Martinez holds strong, but Rays miss 1st chance at AL East title

NEW YORK -- The good news for the Rays on Tuesday afternoon was that they didn’t have to wait long for another chance to clinch the American League East title.

The bad news was that they lost their series opener at Yankee Stadium, 2-0, wasting another quality start from veteran Nick Martinez and keeping the door at least temporarily open for the Yankees in the AL East race.

The Rays need just one win in this four-game, three-day series in the Bronx to secure their first division title since 2021. They couldn’t get it done in the first half of Tuesday’s doubleheader, which was a make-up game for a rainout on May 23.

“Time to just go forward, right?” Martinez said. “Move forward. Do what we can to win this next game.”

Martinez did his job, as usual, holding the Yankees to two runs on five hits and a walk while striking out seven. He retired each of the first nine batters he faced before giving up a leadoff double to Ben Rice in the fourth inning and a two-run shot to Cody Bellinger on the next pitch.

Both extra-base hits came on sinkers that ran over the middle of the plate to two of the Yankees’ most dangerous left-handed hitters.

“Those guys are two guys that are for sure going to capitalize,” Martinez said. “So, two pitches I wish I could take back or better execute to get a better read on the rest of the at-bat. I just felt like it wasn't executed.”

But that was all Martinez allowed in his career-high 30th start. The right-hander completed six innings for the 18th time this season and recorded his 16th quality start. His seven strikeouts were a season high, and he forced the Yankees to whiff on 10 swings against him.

“Two pitches that leaked back over the plate, and they were back-to-back pitches,” manager Kevin Cash said. “But Nick did everything else really, really incredibly well as usual.”

However, Martinez was outdueled by Yankees starter Carlos Rodón, who struck out eight over eight outstanding innings to keep his team alive in the AL East race.

The Rays didn’t even threaten to score against Rodón, as they did not advance a runner to second base all afternoon. Their only three hits were singles, and two were erased by double plays, including one that Victor Mesa Jr. ran into in the sixth inning.

“He was really good,” Rays catcher Liam Hicks said of Rodón. “He was in the strike zone the whole time, so he did a really good job of just getting ahead and continuing to get ahead and then expanding when he got to two strikes. It was tough. He's a good pitcher.”

Still, the Rays felt good about their chances of clinching the division on Tuesday night as they were prepared to send top starter Drew Rasmussen to the mound in their new “Tampa Bay” road gray jerseys in the nightcap.

The Rays cut Rasmussen’s last start short, at five innings and 76 pitches, fully expecting him to go as deep as possible into Tuesday night’s game after four days’ rest. They have won each of the All-Star right-hander’s last 11 starts dating back to the All-Star break.

“He's just going to go out and have a normal start,” Cash said. “And if he does what he normally does, we're going to be in a really good spot.”