Tampa Bay Rays at New York Yankees
· Major League Baseball
2 - 9
Ben Rice hits 40th and 41st homers as Yankees beat Rays 9-2 a day after Tampa Bay clinches AL East
Gerrit Cole (10-9) allowed two runs and three hits in 5 2/3 innings and a season-high 105 pitches with eight strikeouts and three walks. The 2023 AL Cy Young Award winner had a 3.61 ERA and 131 strikeouts over 22 starts and 127 innings following his return in May from Tommy John surgery.
A day after Tampa Bay clinched the AL East title, Rice hit the first pitch of the first inning from Mason Englert (0-4) into the right-field second deck for his fourth career leadoff homer and second this season.
Rice added a solo drive in the fourth for his fifth career multihomer game and finished with three hits. He is tied for the AL home run lead with Baltimore's Pete Alonso, the Rays' Junior Caminero and Houston's Yordan Alvarez.
George Lombard Jr. also homered for the Yankees and Cedric Mullins went deep for the Rays.
New York is assured of hosting a best-of-three AL Wild Card Series starting Tuesday, likely against Boston. The winner will face the Rays in a best-of-five Division Series.
McMahon had an RBI single in the second and boosted the lead to 7-0 in the third with his third career slam.
Englert, brought up to allow Rays starters extra rest ahead of the playoffs, allowed eight runs and nine hits in 4 2/3 innings.
Rays manager Kevin Cash said left-hander Shane McClanahan won't recover in time for the Division Series but left-hander Garrett Cleavinger and right-hander Tyler Wells are possibilities. All three have forearm tightness.
See AP’s full MLB coverage here
How can I watch Tampa Bay Rays vs. New York Yankees?
- TV Channel: Rays at Yankees 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on MLB.TV.
- Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.
Scoring Summary
 |
9th Inning | Mateo struck out swinging. |
|
9th Inning | Mullins grounded out to second. |
|
9th Inning | Vilade grounded out to third. |
 |
9th Inning | Bednar relieved Blackburn |
|
8th Inning | Jones flied out to left. |
|
8th Inning | Ramos hit sacrifice fly to right, Sánchez scored, Rice to third. |
Statistics
 TB |
 NYY |
|
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Games Played | 1 |
| 1 | Team Games Played | 1 |
| 0 | Hit By Pitch | 0 |
| 14 | Ground Balls | 8 |
| 9 | Strikeouts | 11 |
| 2 | Runs Batted In | 9 |
| 0 | Sacrifice Hit | 0 |
| 6 | Hits | 12 |
| 2 | Stolen Bases | 1 |
| 3 | Walks | 4 |
| 0 | Catcher Interference | 0 |
| 2 | Runs | 9 |
| 0 | Ground Into Double Play | 0 |
| 0 | Sacrifice Flies | 1 |
| 33 | At Bats | 36 |
| 1 | Home Runs | 4 |
| 0 | Grand Slam Home Runs | 1 |
| 13 | Runners Left On Base | 19 |
| 0 | Triples | 0 |
| 0 | Game Winning RBIs | 1 |
| 0 | Intentional Walks | 0 |
| 1 | Doubles | 1 |
| 10 | Fly Balls | 18 |
| 1 | Caught Stealing | 0 |
| 152 | Pitches | 173 |
| 0 | Games Started | 0 |
| 1 | Pinch At Bats | 0 |
| 0 | Pinch Hits | 0 |
| 0.0 | Player Rating | 0.0 |
| 1 | Is Qualified | 1 |
| 1 | Is Qualified In Steals | 1 |
| 10 | Total Bases | 25 |
| 36 | Plate Appearances | 41 |
| 162.0 | Projected Home Runs | 648.0 |
| 2 | Extra Base Hits | 5 |
| 2.5 | Runs Created | 9.6 |
| .182 | Batting Average | .333 |
| .000 | Pinch Hit Average | .000 |
| .303 | Slugging Percentage | .694 |
| .242 | Secondary Average | .500 |
| .250 | On Base Percentage | .390 |
| .553 | OBP Pct + SLG Pct | 1.085 |
| 1.4 | Ground To Fly Ball Ratio | 0.4 |
| 2.4 | Runs Created Per 27 Outs | 10.3 |
| 21.0 | Batter Rating | 63.0 |
| 33.0 | At Bats Per Home Run | 9.0 |
| 0.67 | Stolen Base Percentage | 1.00 |
| 4.22 | Pitches Per Plate Appearance | 4.22 |
| .121 | Isolated Power | .361 |
| 0.33 | Walk To Strikeout Ratio | 0.36 |
| .083 | Walks Per Plate Appearance | .098 |
| .061 | Secondary Average Minus Batting Average | .167 |
| 4.0 | Runs Produced | 18.0 |
| 1.0 | Runs Ratio | 1.0 |
| 0.4 | Patience Ratio | 0.8 |
| 0.2 | Balls In Play Average | 0.4 |
| 71.0 | MLB Rating | 106.8 |
| 0.0 | Offensive Wins Above Replacement | 0.0 |
| 0.0 | Wins Above Replacement | 0.0 |
Game Information
Location: Bronx, New York
Attendance: 42,238 | Capacity:
2026 American League East Standings
| TEAM | W | L | PCT | GB | STRK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tampa Bay |
- | 64 | L1 | 0.60493827 | 98 |
| New York |
4.5 | 68 | W1 | 0.57763976 | 93 |
 Boston |
11 | 75 | L1 | 0.537037 | 87 |
 Baltimore |
18.5 | 82 | L1 | 0.49068323 | 79 |
 Toronto |
19 | 83 | W1 | 0.48765433 | 79 |