From the league office:
Game 1: The Rays kicked off their big 4-game set with the second-place Yankees today and it was not the start they wanted in a 6-2 loss. Tyler Glasnow held the Yankees in check through 4 with a 1-0 lead but was wild today and not his sharpest overall, and New York broke through for 2 in the 5th. In the top of the 6th the Rays had a great chance to have a big inning by loading the bases with nobody out, but Randy Arozarena and Ji-Man Choi struck out, and although they got a run to tie it up when Jonathan Loaisiga walked Willy Adames to force in a run, that's all they got and then the Yankees erupted off a tiring Glasnow in the bottom of the frame with the big hit a 3-run homer from Mike Tauchman. Glasnow ended a rough 5.2 7 6 6 5 7. Andrew Kittredge and Nick Anderson (getting some work in) wrapped it up, but it didn't matter as the bats couldn't do anything against the New York bullpen. The Yankees now pull within 1 1/2 games of the division lead.
Game 2: This turned out to be an epic game which will be remembered at the end of the season as the Rays got a 2-run inside-the-park HR from Yandy Diaz (!) in the top of the 12th to beat the Yankees 5-3, a game they led in the 8th and 10th innings before losing those leads yet they still won. Chris Archer was very good and got some help from Austin Meadows gunning down Gleyber Torres at the plate but still went 5 4 1 1 1 5. Homers by Brandon Lowe in the 1st (#13) and Ji-Man Choi in the 6th (#5) meant the Rays had a 2-1 lead and it was set up for their bullpen to close it out. Chaz Roe (6th) and Peter Fairbanks (7th) did their jobs, but Diego Castillo was greeted by a Gary Sanchez homer leading off the 8th and we were tied. Nick Anderson pitched the 9th and off to extras we went when Lowe doubled in Diaz to make it 3-2 Rays in the 10th. Anderson stayed on and got the first two out before Caleb Kowart of all people took him deep to tie it up with the Yankees' final swing. Ryan Thompson came in for the 11th and got a double play to get out of that inning and that set the stage for Diaz to be the hero, with his drive off the LF wall taking a weird bounce, getting past Brett Gardner and scoring Meadows (who had a 4-hit day). Thompson remained in for a second inning and got yet another double play (the 4th they turned) to finish the game and restore the Rays' 2 1/2-game lead in the AL East.
Game 3: Another high-drama affair at Yankee Stadium went the Rays' way when Austin Meadows hit his 2nd HR of the game (#13) in the 8th with Mike Zunino aboard to give the Rays a 3-2 win and a 3 1/2-game lead in the AL East. Meadows led off the game with a homer against Gerrit Cole, but the Yankee flamethrower game the Rays virtually nothing after that, striking out 12, allowing only two hits and leaving with a 2-1 lead after 7. Never has a team been so glad to see the starter come out and they proved that when Zunino drew a walk from Yankee reliever Nick Nelson and Meadows went deep again. Meanwhile Rays pitchers were putting on a high-wire act, giving up baserunners galore but mostly getting out of it. Michael Wacha allowed 7 hits but 0 runs through the first 4 innings until his luck ran out in the 5th when he gave up RBI singles to Aaron Judge and DJ LeMahieu and finished 4.2 10 2 2 0 4. Cody Reed got him out of it, and then Chaz Roe got Reed out of the 6th with a couple of men on. Andrew Kittredge pitched the 7th and ended up with win #2, and got one out with one on in the 8th for Peter Fairbanks to take over as Diego Castillo and Nick Anderson were unavailable. Fairbanks was great, whiffing a pair to finish the 8th and whiffing two more in the 9th to pick up his 2nd save and the Rays got a huge win in a game which they were outhit 12-4 (and Meadows had 3 of them!).
June 3: Optioned P Ryan Thompson to AAA Durham, recalled P Josh Fleming from AAA Durham.
With Diego Castillo and Trevor Richards the only non-tired relievers in the pen, we needed a fresh arm who could give us multiple innings if needed.
Game 4: After outhitting the Rays 12-4 last night and still losing, the Yankees figured today they should just hit home runs so they blasted 4 of 'em in a 5-3 win over the Rays. Aaron Hicks set the tone by taking Ryan Yarbrough deep to lead off the game and Mike Tauchman followed in the 3rd to put the Yankees up 2-0. Kevin Kiermaier hit a homer of his own (#3) in the 5th to cut the lead in half, but in the bottom of the frame the Yanks scored their only non-homer run on a Tauchman RBI single. Yarbrough ended up leaving after 6 with a quality start, going 6 6 3 3 1 4 but took the loss to drop to 6-3. After the Rays got an unearned run in the 8th off Jameson Tallion, who had stifled them for the most part, on an Austin Meadows RBI single, Trevor Richards gave up back-to-back 2-out homers to Hicks and Luke Voit in the bottom of the 8th to put the game away for New York. Willy Adames did take Aroldis Chapman yard in the 9th for his 4th but it was too little, too late and the teams ended up splitting the 4-game series. That's not a bad result overall for the Rays, who came in with a 2 1/2-game lead and left with that same lead.
Team record: 34-24. Next up: A weekend set in Texas as the Rays play their first regular season games in Globe Life Field after having played the World Series there last year.