NEW YORK -- Gerrit Cole lived up to the hype in his long-awaited return from Tommy John surgery on Friday night. The Yankees ace breezed through six scoreless innings, looking a lot like his Cy Young Award-winning self.
When Cole was out of the game, the Rays showed Yankee Stadium what they’re all about, too.
Down by a run in the eighth inning, Tampa Bay came back in classic Rays fashion and pulled out a 4-2 victory over the Yankees in the series opener between two of the American League’s top teams.
It was the Rays’ 14th comeback win of the season, and already their fifth of the year when trailing after seven innings.
“That's who we are. I think everyone's bought into our style of play, how we play,” starter Nick Martinez said. “We don't give up, man. We're not down until it's over.”
The Rays have won five straight games and 22 of their last 26, improving their MLB-best record to 34-15. They also continued their dominance against their own division and league, moving to 14-2 against the AL East -- which they now lead by 5 1/2 games -- and 24-4 against the AL as a whole.
Yes, it’s only May. Sure, there’s a lot of season left. But can you blame them for feeling good about the way things are going?
“It's early, but it's still a big series,” Martinez said. “They're a very good team, and to get the first one is huge for us.”
The game-winning rally was classic 2026 Rays stuff, if such a thing is possible in a season that’s only 49 games old. It just felt right for this team to do it this way.
Chandler Simpson, a thorn in the Yankees’ side throughout a three-game sweep at Tropicana Field last month, got the rally started against Tim Hill with a grounder that shortstop José Caballero couldn’t quite corral. Junior Caminero blasted a single up the middle, sending the speedy Simpson to third.
Up came Jonathan Aranda, who showed bunt at one point before swatting a two-strike sinker to center for a game-tying double. Aranda admitted he’d been thinking for an inning about the possibility of dropping a bunt, if he didn’t feel comfortable, but he pulled it back and thought better of it.
Instead, he ripped a 106.5 mph line drive for his AL-leading 38th RBI of the season.
“The handful of hits that I've gotten have come in those situations. I'm very thankful that I've been able to come through in those types of moments,” Aranda said through interpreter Kevin Vera. “I don't know if my mentality just kind of changes naturally in those types of situations, but again, thankfully, they have.”
The Yankees intentionally walked Yandy Díaz to bring up the left-handed-hitting Richie Palacios, and the native New Yorker made another memorable moment in the Bronx with the Rays-iest hit of the rally.
After fouling off a first-pitch sinker from Hill, Palacios chopped another one into the ground. It bounced enough to just tip off Hill’s glove, then just clear the leaping Caballero before rolling into the outfield for a go-ahead, two-run single.
“We love all those bounces,” Palacios said, smiling.
It would be one thing to say those bounces seem to be going the Rays’ way lately, and that would probably be accurate. But those bounces only occur on balls in play, and no team this season is putting the ball in play as often as Tampa Bay.
String together enough balls in play, and you get rallies like this one, which concluded with a sacrifice fly by Ryan Vilade that scored pinch-runner Carson Williams.
“I mean, they just hung in there,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “One-nothing ballgame, it can go a lot of different ways, but really impressed.”
Not to be lost in the late-inning drama was another brilliant start by Martinez, who has allowed two runs or fewer in each of his 10 starts this season. He held the Yankees to just one run -- on a homer by Austin Wells -- despite allowing nine hits over six innings. Ian Seymour, Kevin Kelly and Bryan Baker (14th save) finished the job.
Martinez said he didn’t have his best stuff, but he still lowered his ERA to 1.51, second-lowest in the Majors and the best by a traditional through his first 10 starts of a season in Rays history.
“It was a 'grindy' outing for me, and we're a 'grindy' team, man,” Martinez said. “I felt really confident that we were gonna make it a good game.”