ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Fifteen summers to the day after the franchise’s most famous swing, a Yankees lineup that had forgotten how to hit finally found its answer. It came against the pitcher least likely to allow one.
Drew Rasmussen had faced this team twice already in 2026 and never let a run cross. Thirteen innings. Nothing. Across his career against New York, the Tampa Bay right-hander carried an 0.89 ERA, five earned runs in 50 2/3 innings, the lowest mark any pitcher has posted against any opponent since earned runs became official in 1913.
He retired the first six Yankees on 26 pitches Thursday afternoon at Tropicana Field. Then Max Schuemann doubled to open the third, and the next 40 minutes rewrote three weeks of Yankees misery.
The Yankees arrived in Florida having lost 15 of 20, the worst record in baseball since June 18. Their hitters struck out 34 times over the first two games of this series, a two-game franchise record. They did not draw a single walk on Tuesday or Wednesday. General manager Brian Cashman spent Thursday morning explaining why manager Aaron Boone and hitting coach James Rowson still had his confidence. Then, the barrage secured a 12-4 win.
Rasmussen falls in a six-run third
Ryan McMahon stepped in after Schuemann’s double and fouled off seven pitches. On the 12th, he lined a cutter down the right field line to tie it 1-1. Austin Wells flied out. Then five straight Yankees reached base.
Trent Grisham singled home the go-ahead run. Ben Rice followed with a two-run drive that barely cleared the right field wall, close enough that Rice broke from the box as though it were in play and replay was required to confirm it.
Jasson Dominguez and Cody Bellinger delivered back-to-back infield singles. Jose Caballero punched a single through the vacated right side on a hit-and-run, and Rasmussen was gone.
Jazz Chisholm Jr., the only starter without a hit, closed the inning with a sacrifice fly. Ten Yankees batted. Seven collected hits. The six runs exceeded anything the club had scored in a full game since June 17.
Rasmussen finished with six runs on seven hits over 2 1/3 innings, his shortest and roughest outing of the year. His ERA climbed from 2.73 to 3.26.
What the clubhouse heard before first pitch
The Yankees rally did not begin in the batter’s box. It began in a hitters meeting where Chisholm stood up and told a room full of slumping teammates that the standings did not match the talent. Schuemann, who went 2-for-4 with a double and two runs, was asked afterward what the message had done.
“Feel like it really brought the guys together,” Schuemann said, adding that it needed to be said.
McMahon’s at-bat gave that talk a scoreboard. He described the pitch-by-pitch shift in belief as the count stretched on.
“As you’re fouling more pitches off, you’re gaining more and more confidence,” McMahon said.
Boone, whose ninth season has drawn steady scrutiny through the skid, reached for the late John Sterling and longtime radio partner Suzyn Waldman when asked how a lineup this cold beat a pitcher this good.
“That’s baseball, Suzyn,” Boone said.
Rice, Wells and a bullpen that held
Rice hit his 27th and 28th home runs, a Yankees career high for him, and drove in five. The second, a three-run shot off Casey Legumina in the sixth, carried to straightaway center and pushed the lead to 10-3. He is one behind Houston’s Yordan Alvarez for the American League lead and will join Rays slugger Junior Caminero in Monday’s Home Run Derby in Philadelphia.
Wells, buried in a season-long slump, ended a 23-game homerless streak with a solo shot in the fourth, his first since May 22 and also against Tampa Bay. Cashman had called the catching position an issue hours earlier.
New York piled up 14 hits and went 7-for-14 with runners in scoring position. Six players had multiple hits. Every starter except Chisholm reached safely on a hit. The top four in the order combined to go 8-for-18 with seven RBIs.
The pitching was patchwork by design. Paul Blackburn opened and gave up one run over two innings, striking out three, the damage a first-inning Caminero blast that nearly reached the stingray tank in right-center. Seven arms followed. Ryan Yarbrough, a former Ray, threw a scoreless inning and got the win. Angel Chivilli struck out three across two innings. Brent Headrick worked 1 2/3, Tim Hill closed it out.
The Yankees defense held the line as the Rays kept traffic on the bases. Chisholm, hitless at the plate, turned in the day’s steadiest work at second base. Tampa Bay stranded Chandler Simpson at third after a leadoff triple in the fourth and never threatened the margin again.
Four back, and a road trip to finish
New York is 51-42. Tampa Bay is 54-37 and still leads the AL East by four games. The Yankees are 15-19 without Aaron Judge, whose injured right rib will be reimaged next week. Thursday was their third win in 14 games.
The Yankees close a seven-game trip with three at Washington before the All-Star break. Left-hander Ryan Weathers goes Friday against a Nationals staff among the majors’ worst. Tampa Bay hosts Seattle.
July 9 already belonged to the Yankees. On a Saturday afternoon in 2011, Derek Jeter, then 37 and hitting .257, sat on 2,998 hits and turned an eighth-pitch breaking ball from David Price into a home run to left. He remains the only player to reach 3,000 hits in pinstripes alone. He went 5-for-5. The opponent was Tampa Bay.
Fifteen years on, same date, same opponent, and a Yankees lineup that had struck out more than any team in baseball answered with 14 hits. The Yankees will take the anniversary. They still need the next one to matter.
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