NEW YORK — The Yankees waited all afternoon for one clean swing. Their gloves made sure Aaron Judge still had time to deliver it.
The Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays 2-0 at Yankee Stadium on May 24, stopping a three-game skid and earning their first win in five tries this season against the AL East leaders. Judge supplied the final blow with a two-run walk-off homer in the ninth, but the game turned earlier when New York’s defense cut off Tampa Bay’s latest late-inning push.
The Rays arrived with the best record in the American League and a five-game winning streak. They had beaten the Yankees on Friday with a four-run eighth. They had made a habit of turning tight games with late pressure.
This time, the Yankees did not fold.
Weathers gives Yankees room to wait
Ryan Weathers gave the Yankees exactly what a quiet offense needed. The left-hander threw seven scoreless innings, allowed four hits, walked three and struck out four. He lowered his ERA to 3.14 and kept the Rays from turning traffic into damage.
Tampa Bay threatened in the third after Carson Williams drew a leadoff walk. Weathers erased him with a pickoff before Yandy Díaz and Jonathan Aranda followed with singles. That small defensive play kept the Yankees from chasing a run in a game with almost no margin.
Drew Rasmussen matched Weathers for Tampa Bay. The Rays starter worked seven shutout innings, allowed five hits, struck out six and walked one. The Yankees had scattered chances but little rhythm. Trent Grisham singled to open the sixth, but stayed at first on a ball that got away. Judge then grounded into a double play.
Judge also had an odd start. He singled in the first to stop one skid, then got doubled off first on Ben Rice’s liner to right-center. Nothing came easily for the Yankees, and nothing came easily for the Rays.
The inning that turned on defense
The biggest moment came before Judge reached the plate in the ninth.
Fernando Cruz replaced Weathers in the eighth and faced the inning Tampa Bay usually bends its way. Oliver Dunn stood at second. Junior Caminero was on first. Two outs were on the board when Ryan Vilade lined a single to left. The Rays looked ready to score the first run.
Cody Bellinger made sure they did not. The Yankees left fielder charged on wet grass, skipped the throw home and fired to Ryan McMahon at third. Caminero tried to go from first to third. McMahon applied the tag before Dunn crossed the plate. Replay confirmed the out, and the run came off the board.
Judge later pointed to that defensive read as the moment that kept the Yankees alive.
“That was a game-changing throw,” Judge said. “It was heads up.”
Bellinger knew the runners were moving on a full count. A throw home gave the Yankees little chance. The throw to third gave them one.
Bellinger gave McMahon credit for finishing a difficult play.
“That was all [McMahon]. I picked my head up and Mac had a huge target at third. I threw a pretty nasty sinker. He did a great job to pick it and tag him. Once he tagged him, I didn’t think the run had scored.”
Boone also credited the setup before the pitch, including outfield coach Luis Rojas moving Bellinger in slightly with that kind of play possible. It took the positioning, the throw and the tag to erase the Rays’ best chance.
“It was a really heads-up, great play by a great defender,” Boone said.
Judge turns defense into a walk-off
The Yankees still needed the bullpen to keep the door shut. Tim Hill handled the ninth after Tampa Bay put two runners on, striking out Richie Palacios to strand both and send the game to the bottom half scoreless.
Grisham opened the ninth with a walk against Kevin Kelly. Max Schuemann entered as a pinch runner, but Judge ended the suspense before Schuemann had to matter.
Judge attacked Kelly’s first pitch, a sinker on the inner part of the plate, and sent it the other way to right-center. The ball landed in the seats for his 17th homer of the season and first since May 10. It ended a career-worst 11-game stretch without an RBI.
The swing did not look massive by distance. Statcast listed it at 363 feet, and it would have been a homer in only three major league parks. In the Bronx, it was enough.
Judge entered the day in a 1-for-24 slide. He left with his fourth career walk-off homer, his first since 2022 and his eighth walk-off hit. The Yankees left with their fastest game of the season at 2 hours, 12 minutes.
Bullpen and gloves seal a needed win
The Yankees and Rays each finished with seven hits. Neither team made an error. The difference came from the margins.
Weathers picked off a runner. Judge made a diving catch in right in the eighth. Bellinger cut down a runner when the obvious throw looked too late. McMahon finished the tag. Hill stranded two. The Yankees did not overwhelm Tampa Bay. They outlasted it.
The Rays fell to 34-16. The Yankees improved to 31-22 and trimmed Tampa Bay’s AL East lead to 4 1/2 games. For a team that entered the day with only four wins in its previous 14 games, this was more than a clean box score.
The Yankees offense still has questions. Sunday did not erase that. It did show what the Yankees can look like when the starter gives length, the bullpen absorbs pressure and the defense turns a Rays rally into nothing.
Next, the Yankees head to Kansas City and Will Warren is set to start the series against the Royals.
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