NEW YORK -- Entering this weekend’s series at Yankee Stadium, the Rays had plenty of reasons to be confident in the job their pitching staff had done against arguably their fiercest division rival.

The Bronx Bombers, the American League’s highest-scoring offense, had been contained to 45 runs in 16 games, an average of 2.81 runs per contest. That was no small feat, as the Yankees averaged 5.16 runs per game against the rest of the Majors.

But in the final series of the year between the two teams that have battled for supremacy in the AL East over the past four seasons, the Rays’ staff came crashing down to earth, culminating in a 10-4 defeat in Sunday’s finale -- the second consecutive day in which Tampa Bay gave up double-digit runs. Before Saturday, Rays pitchers had not allowed the Yankees to score that much in one game since June 2019.

“Look, the lineup is too good. The pitching is too good. They’ve hit a glitch at a part of the season, and I feel like we’ve played them well here as of late,” said manager Kevin Cash. “Obviously not the last two days.”

With the result, the Rays fell back to 5 1/5 games behind the Yankees in the AL East (four in the loss column). They finished the season series with an 8-11 record, their first season-series loss to the Yankees since 2019 -- perhaps not coincidentally, that was the last time Tampa Bay did not win the division (New York earned the title).

As it turned out, Corey Kluber’s career-short start Saturday in a six-run first inning -- tied for the most he has allowed in a single frame in his big league tenure -- was a prelude to what unfolded for starter Luis Patiño on Sunday. The 22-year-old right-hander, in just his sixth outing of the year, allowed nine runs (including three home runs) on five hits and four walks in only 1 1/3 innings.

“He just didn’t have very good stuff, and they were kind of all over everything he was throwing,” Cash said, “so it snowballed pretty quick for him.”

“The command just wasn’t quite there today,” added catcher Christian Bethancourt, “and the Yankees took advantage of it.”

While Saturday was a case of small ball, the big bats came out on Sunday, as the Yankees launched a pair of three-run homers, courtesy of Gleyber Torres and Giancarlo Stanton, and a couple of solo shots, hit by Torres and Oswaldo Cabrera, in the game’s first two frames.

“They got a lot of good players in that offense, a lot of good hitters, and it was just more of a matter of time when that lineup was going to explode again,” said designated hitter Yandy Díaz through interpreter Manny Navarro.

Fifteen years had passed since a Rays starter had given up nine or more earned runs to the Yankees. It most recently happened to James Shields on July 22, 2007.

After Patiño’s early exit, left-hander Ryan Yarbrough spared Tampa Bay’s bullpen from any more undue strain, tossing five scoreless innings to close out the contest -- his second-longest outing as a reliever this season.

“Yarbs was awesome. So appreciative of him being able to come in there and keep guys who shouldn’t be pitching in that type of game from doing that,” Cash said. “It’ll set us up a little bit better going into a long series in Toronto.”

The Rays had arrived in New York boasting a 2.23 ERA in the season series, which was on pace to be the lowest by any club against the Yankees (minimum 10 games) since the 1991 Mariners (1.91 ERA). They left with that possibility having become a distant memory. Only AL Pitcher of the Month Drew Rasmussen’s career-high 10-K, six-inning scoreless gem in Friday’s victory helped to quell the reversal.

In a continuation of a concerning trend, Tampa Bay dropped to 31-36 on the season away from Tropicana Field, compared to its 47-24 record at home. That stands in stark contrast to its AL-best 48-33 road record in 2021. The difference was particularly noticeable in the season series, as the Rays managed a 5-5 split at home but went 3-6 at Yankee Stadium.

Tampa Bay will now head north for a five-game, four-day series against Toronto, with major AL Wild Card implications on the line. Despite recent events, the club plans to lean on the pitching staff to guide its destiny.

“I don’t think anybody’s ever going to erupt against us; our pitching is just too good,” Cash said. “We’ve had a couple of days where they’ve hit the ball well, but we’re a very talented group, [a] thick group, from the starting rotation to the bullpen. And the reason we’ve had so much success is due in large part to our pitching."