ST. PETERSBURG -- Game 2 of the American League Division Series is effectively a must-win game for the Yankees. So they picked a bad time to play arguably their worst defensive inning of the season -- and the Rays pounced.
The Yankees committed three errors and had another misplay in the bottom of the first inning at Tropicana Field, leading to an early unearned run against ace Cam Schlittler.
The Rays’ bottom half of the first began with Yandy Díaz hitting a chopper to third baseman Ryan McMahon, who watched the ball clank off his glove. After Jonathan Aranda singled past a diving McMahon into left field, Junior Caminero hit a cutter up the middle that shortstop George Lombard Jr. made a nice play on to glove and flip to Jazz Chisholm Jr. for the forceout at second base.
But Chisholm barehanded the feed, then made the unwise decision to try to complete the double play against Caminero, who led MLB with 26 GIDPs this season. But Chisholm’s off-balance throw was wide of first baseman Luis García Jr. and sailed to the Rays’ dugout railing, allowing Díaz to score from second.
The eyesores continued for the Yankees when the next batter, Liam Hicks, appeared to strike out. However, his check swing clipped the glove of Austin Wells, resulting in catcher’s interference, a third error of the inning and a free base for the Rays’ catcher.
The three errors tied a postseason record for the most in a first inning. It last occurred in the first when the A’s made three errors in Game 1 of the 1975 AL Championship Series against the Red Sox.
Outfielder Chandler Simpson then rolled a ball over to Chisholm, whose throw to Lombard at second pulled the rookie shortstop off the bag, eliminating any chance New York had of doubling up one of the fastest runners in the sport. Lombard managed to reach back and touch the bag for the second out.
Schlittler ultimately limited the damage to one run on 19 pitches (17 strikes) when Victor Mesa Jr. grounded out to end the frame. But the Yankees’ sloppy defense put them in a quick hole and might have caused some to flash back to how the club’s defense unraveled against the Dodgers during the fifth inning of Game 5 in the 2024 World Series.