Rays finally hold off a Yankees’ comeback

by Gary Shelton on May 15, 2023

in general

Monday, 4 a.m.

This time, the comeback failed.

This time, the bullpen held.

This time, the ball stayed inside the park.

It was as close as the game's final swing, a deep fly ball off the bat of Aaron Judge that could have tried the game but dropped into the glove of Jose Siri just short of the center-field field and left the Rays with an 8-7 wn.



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When Siri caught the ball, reliever Jason Adam twisted his face in relief. No wonder. In the previous two games, both losses, the Rays had given up leads. They had lost three of their previous four.

But this time, the Rays escaped. Taylor Walls, known more for his glove than his bat, had a single, triple and a grand slam.

The slam allowed the Rays to have a comeback of their own after blowing an early 3-0 lead. The Rays took an 8-4 lead on Walls' homer, but the Yankees whittled down to one run by the ninth.

"That was a big one," Rays' manager Kevin Cash said. "We lost with a. grand slam in our favor yesterday.. The triple off the wall... I thought that was gone."

Zach Eflin ran his record to 5-1 with the win even though he fave up two two-run homers. But Eflin scraped to help out a weary bullpen.

The Rays are off today, then play against the New York Mets on Tuesday at 7:10 p.m. Justin Verlander is scheduled to start for the Mets. The Rays will use a bullpen day.


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