Saturday, 4 a.m.

Might the Tampa Bay Rays run away with the high-priced American League East?

And if not, who is going to catch them?

The Rays played a familiar script on Friday night. They were dormant for seven innings, then got into their opponent's bullpen. They pulled away for a 4-2 victory over the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium to pull 5 1/2 games ahead in the division league.

It was a similar game to their last one, a 5-3 win over Baltimore when a four-run eighth led them to a win. The Rays are 22-4 in their last 26 games.

The Rays are 14-2 in AL East games.

This time, the enemy pitcher was Gerritt Cole, who was pitching for the first time in 569 days. Cole threw a two-hit shutout for six innings.

But in the eighth, the Rays woke up. They amassed three hits, a walk, an error and a sacrifice fly and scored four runs.

Jonathan Aranda, the AL leader in RBI, tied the game with his 38th run driven in on a double. Richie Palacios had a two-out, two run single.

Palacios, Chandler Simpson and Cedrick Mullins all had two hits.

In his last seven games, Palacios has nine hits and has driven in five.

Nick Martinez went six innings and allowed just one earned run. Ian Seymour got his third win without a loss. Bryan Baker recorded his 14th save.

The Rays and Yankees play today at 1:35 at Yankee Stadium. Drew Rasmussen will start for the Rays against Ryan Weathers.

Thursday, 4 a.m.

It isn't just that the Rays came from behind Wednesday.

They were raised from the dead.

For seven innings, the Rays looked tamed. They managed two hits, and just one run, against former teammate Shane Baz. It looked like one of those days when a hot pitcher changes everything -- although Baz has been off to a difficult start.

Then came the eighth inning, when the Rays rose from the mat and pulled out a 5-3 victory. It completed the team's seventh sweep of the year. It was the team's 13th come-from-behind win of the year.

Want to talk about a memorable inning? It started when Hunter Feduccia had a bunt single. With two outs, Junior Caminero singled to right field.

Jonathan Aranda then had a double to drive in his 36th and 37th runs of the year (he leads the American League).

After Ryan Vilade walked, Richie Palacios singled to right to drive in Arada with the go-ahead run.

Palacios and Vilade pulled off a double-steal, with Vilade scoring the last run,

Feduccia had two hits, including his first major league home run. Caminero also had two hits.

Steven Matz returned to the starting lineup and allowed just three hits and one earned run in four innings. Jesse Scholtens (5-2) got the win and Ian Seymour earned his secondsave.

The Rays are off today, then open a series against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Friday at 7:05 p.m. Nick Martinez will start for the Rays against Gerritt Cole, who will be making his season debut.

Wednesday, 4 a.m.

Then there are days like Tuesday, when the bullpen matches the blueprint.

A fistful of relief pitchers shut down the Baltimore Orioles Tuesday night at Tropicana Field. The Rays won their 32nd game of the year in a 4-1 decision over th O's.

Griffin Jax, a converted reliever, started and gave up just three hits (one run). Keven Kelly, Ian Seymour, Casey Legumina and Bryan Baker gave up just one hit and no runs in four innings.

Yandy Diaz, again, was the sparkplug on offense. He doubled in a run in the first and homered in the sixth. In the eighth, he was hit by a pitch and his pinch-runner -- Carson Williams scored on a double by Richie Palacios.

In the last two games, Diaz has six hits and has driven in six runs.

Jonny DeLuca also singled in a run.

The Rays and Orioles play again today at 1:10 p.m. at Tropicana Field. Steven Matz will start against former Ray Shane Baz, who is off to a 1-5 start.