Rays push Yankees to brink of elimination with 5-2 win in ALDS Game 2

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Rays beat the New York Yankees 5-2 on Monday to take a 2-0 lead in the American League Division Series, leaving the Yankees one loss from elimination and the Rays one win from the American League Championship Series. (Reuters, USA Today)

Richie Palacios lined a two-run single to cap a four-run fifth inning at Tropicana Field, while Jonathan Aranda and Junior Caminero each had two hits and scored a run. (Reuters)

New York’s gloves were the story: the Yankees committed four errors, three of them on the first four batters starter Cam Schlittler faced. Three of Tampa Bay’s five runs were unearned — New York’s most errors in a postseason game since Game 4 of the 2019 ALCS. Schlittler, the presumptive AL Cy Young winner, lasted just 4⅓ innings, the shortest postseason start of his career, charged with four runs, two of them earned. (USA Today, Reuters)

Ben Rice was the Yankees’ only bright spot, hitting solo home runs in the fourth and eighth innings for his second multi-homer game of the postseason. His fourth-inning shot — a 372-foot drive off Freddy Peralta — was New York’s first run of the series after 12 scoreless innings. Peralta retired the first nine Yankees he faced before departing after 4⅔ innings; Cam Booser stranded the bases loaded to end the fifth, and Bryan Baker threw a 1-2-3 ninth for his second save of the series. (USA Today, Reuters)

Game 3 is Wednesday at Yankee Stadium. Teams that have won the first two games of a best-of-five at home have advanced 33 of 36 times under the current format. (USA Today)