ST. PETERSBURG -- The Yankees’ internal plan was to have Harrison Bader start twice at Tropicana Field this weekend, though after missing the first month of the season, the outfielder wasn’t all that interested in rest. His preparation to enter the game, he said, began the second he woke up on Saturday morning.

Sure enough, by mid-afternoon, Bader was coming off the bench in a big spot. Playing in just his fourth game since being activated from the injured list, Bader continued to make an impact, delivering two hits -- including a go-ahead two-run single -- as the Yankees rallied for a 3-2 victory over the Rays.

“I don’t think there’s ever really a scheduled day off when you get to the yard,” Bader said. “You might not be in the starting lineup, but at some point I anticipated getting a chance to go out there. You still have to prepare as though you are starting; keep it short and do some good for the team.”

Bader’s eighth-inning knock, a 179-foot wedge shot to right field off reliever Kevin Kelly, chased home Gleyber Torres and DJ LeMahieu to provide New York with its first lead of the series. The advantage held as Clay Holmes pitched a scoreless eighth and Ian Hamilton worked around a double in the ninth for his first Major League save.

“You know how tough it is to play here and against that team, with how well they’re playing,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I know we’re in a tough spot right now and beat up, but I know those guys are competing. That’s what I want us to keep reiterating with them. It ain’t easy right now, and that’s OK, but we’re competing our butts off.”

Though Boone said that commentary surrounding Holmes’ recent struggles has “not [been] indicative of how he’s throwing the ball,” he bypassed the 2022 All-Star in favor of Hamilton, a 27-year-old righty with a confounding out pitch (the club refers to it as a “slambio,” a combination of slider and cambio, the Spanish word for changeup).

Hamilton grooved a slambio that Jose Siri belted to the center-field wall for a long flyout, then settled in to navigate around Luke Raley’s two-out double.

“It was kind of unexpected,” said Hamilton, who last closed a game in college at Washington State University. “Every inning, you’re just trying to get three outs, so you try to simplify it like that. But having it in the ninth inning was definitely a different feel. It took me a little bit more to calm down.”

Domingo Germán battled to limit the Rays to two runs over five innings -- both scoring on Manuel Margot’s first-inning double -- and the Yankees’ hurlers wriggled free of hairy spots in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, leaving New York trailing by two runs heading to the eighth.

“The first inning was intense; a lot of pitches [27],” Germán said through an interpreter. “I was able to make the adjustments I needed to make on the mound and stay in the game.”

Given the early season success of their opponent, the Yankees’ chances of a comeback appeared dim. Tampa Bay had been 22-0 when scoring first this season, matching the 1884 St. Louis Maroons for the longest such win streak to begin a campaign.

Anthony Rizzo poked a one-out single to chase Jalen Beeks, and Torres greeted Kelly with a single before LeMahieu drilled a run-scoring double into the right-field corner. After a popout, Bader connected with his second hit of the game, having entered with a pinch-hit single in the seventh.

“I was kidding him, saying, ‘You couldn’t lob them out there any better than that,’” Boone said. “He’s a lot of fun to be around. He loves to play the game; he loves to compete. He was ready to go the whole game. He likes competition, and he’s happy to be back.”

While stars like Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Josh Donaldson remain on the injured list, the Yankees have missed Bader, who sat out the club’s first 30 games of the regular season after sustaining a left oblique strain in early March.

Bader hit a game-tying three-run homer in Friday’s series opener, marking his first regular-season home run in a Yankees uniform; he hit five in the postseason last year. 

“We’re fighting, and we’re just finding our stride,” Bader said. “It’s the early part of the season. If this is the worst baseball we’ll play all season, then I think we’re in a really good spot. We’re playing confidently, and wins like this definitely create some momentum going into tomorrow.”