ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Yankees had the lead. Twice. That was not enough.
Tampa Bay walked off New York 5-4 in 10 innings Saturday night at Tropicana Field, using a pair of bunts, sharp baserunning, and a critical fielding bobble by Jazz Chisholm Jr. to hand the Yankees their fourth consecutive defeat.
The loss dropped New York to 8-6 on the season and left the clubhouse searching for answers after leaving 12 runners on base and going 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position.
Caballero delivers twice, Yankees can’t hold on
Jose Caballero, in the middle of a brutal slump, was the unlikely offensive catalyst. With two outs and runners on second and third in the top of the eighth, Caballero smoked a two-run double off Bryan Baker to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead.
He was not done. After the Rays tied it in the bottom of the eighth, Caballero came through again in the 10th with an RBI single off Cole Sulser that pushed New York back in front, 4-3.
Both leads evaporated quickly.
Rays manufacture runs with small-ball precision
In the bottom of the eighth, Rays catcher Nick Fortes led off with a double. Pinch-runner Chandler Simpson advanced on a Taylor Walls bunt before scoring when Yandy Diaz hit a high chopper to first baseman Ben Rice, who had no play at the plate.
The 10th inning was worse. Simpson reached on a bunt single off David Bednar, moving automatic runner Cedric Mullins to third. Walls then laid down another bunt. Bednar threw home but could not beat Mullins to the plate, tying the game at 4.
The Yankees intentionally walked Diaz to load the bases with no outs. Aaron Boone brought outfielder Cody Bellinger into a five-man infield. Bednar struck out Hunter Feduccia for the first out.
Then Jonathan Aranda hit a chopper that bounced over Bellinger and toward Chisholm. The ball glanced off Chisholm’s glove. He scrambled to recover but could only throw to first as Simpson raced home from third to end the game.
Chisholm opens up after costly bobble
Jazz Chisholm acknowledged afterward that the play was his to make. He described weighing whether he could tag Diaz running toward second and still fire to first for the double play.
“The best thing I was going to try to do is to swing at [Diaz] and hopefully he backed out of the line and they call him out of the baseline and throw it to first base and get that double play,” Chisholm said.
Teammate Trent Grisham, listening from nearby, clarified it would not have mattered regardless since Simpson was already crossing the plate.
Chisholm did not hide from the result.
“It sucks,” he said. “Coming out, working hard to get back out front. Tough loss. They played good and did good baserunning, hit at the right times. We didn’t. We left what, [12] runners on base? Once we do a better job of that, it’s going to come around.”
Fried sharp but stung twice after Yankees took leads
Max Fried was solid for eight innings, allowing three runs on six hits. But each time the Yankees scored to take the lead, Fried gave it back in the bottom half.
He talked Aaron Boone into leaving him in the eighth after a mound visit with Diaz coming up and the infield drawn in. The decision did not pay off.
“I thought for the most part, the guys did enough to win tonight and when it came down to it, the two times where I needed to go out there and put a shutdown inning, I kind of let up the momentum,” Fried said. “It’s frustrating. That’s definitely on me.”
Rays starter Nick Martinez held the Yankees to one run in 4 2/3 innings. Austin Wells homered in the second for the early 1-0 advantage, but New York managed just one more extra-base hit the rest of the night.
Offense mired in a cold stretch
The Yankees are batting .142 during the four-game losing streak, collecting 18 hits in 127 at-bats with only six extra-base hits. Reigning American League MVP Aaron Judge went 0-for-3 with two walks and is hitting .212 on the season.
New York also stranded runners on the corners in the top of the ninth when Randal Grichuk flew out against righty Hunter Bigge. Boone chose not to pinch-hit for Grichuk despite having Paul Goldschmidt and J.C. Escarra available on the bench.
Caballero, despite his two go-ahead contributions, acknowledged the team needs to be sharper.
“We know we’re way better than this,” he said. “We just need to continue working and get better and look forward to [Sunday’s] game.”
The Yankees wrap up the series Sunday before returning home.
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