Thursday, 4 a.m.
On the night the bullpen blew up in the Bronx, there were several suspects who cost the Tampa Bay Rays a pair of big leads and a sweep of the New York Yankees. Hey, a loss like this is too crippling for just one culprit.
-- There was Jalen Beeks, who gave up a grand slam to Josh Donaldson in the bottom of the 10th inning, blowing. a three-run lead without getting anyone out.
-- There was Pete Fairbanks, who walks Aaron Judge with the bases loaded to force home the Yankees' third run.
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-- There was Brooks Raley, who gave up a solo home run to Anthony Rizzo to tie the game at four.
-- There was Corey Kluber, who was very good for five innings as the Rays took a 4-0 lead. But Kluber wasn't flawless either; he gave up a double and a home run to Jose Trevino in the sixth.
The Rays' bullpen, which had been so good against New York in the series, unraveled all at once. The pen had come into the game ranked seventh in the majors. Before this outing, Rays relievers had pitched to a 2.48 ERA over their last 18 games dating back to July 27.
“(Beeks) fell behind good hitters," said Rays' manager Kevin Cash. "It felt like that inning was kind of reflective of what had taken place three or four innings prior. They put a bunch of good at-bats together against us. When we needed to execute a pitch, we weren’t able to do it tonight.
"All of those guys have all pitched really well for us as of certainly the last two games here. We had our hiccup today. It's a special group down there. No doubt they're frustrated, but I have full confidence they'll be fine."
The Yankees had lost 11 of 13 games coming in, and they wasted no time falling behind again. Yandy Diaz drove in the Rays' first two runs with a pair of doubles, and Harold Ramirez hit a home run.
But the Yankees came back to tie and force extra innings.
No problem there. With two outs and a two-strike count and the bases loaded, Francisco Mejia doubled down the right field line to drive home three runs.
"It's on me," Beeks said.
The Rays return home to Tropicana Field tonight to face the Kansas City Royals at 7:10 p.m. Neither team has announced a starter.