Yankees swept by Rays in ALDS after 4-3 loss

· Yahoo Sports

Another Yankees season ended in disappointment Wednesday night when the Tampa Bay Rays came to Yankee Stadium and finished off a sweep in the AL Division Series. 

The Rays beat the Yanks, 4-3, in Game 3 of the best-of-five affair, meaning the Bronx Bombers are still without a World Series title since 2009, a drought that equals the 17 years without a title the club endured from 1979 through 1995.

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The Yankees rallied from several deficits Wednesday and had seemingly tied the score in the sixth inning, though a flashback to 1996 did not go the Yankees’ way – fan interference made Anthony Volpe settle for an RBI double instead of a tying two-run homer. 

The Rays’ celebration of their berth in the ALCS was their second party of the season at Yankee Stadium – they also clinched the AL East title in the Bronx.

Here are the main takeaways...

-- The Yankee offense was horrid throughout the series, with failure up and down the lineup. They had seven hits in Game 3, but that was more than half their total for the series. The Yanks went 12-for-89 (.135) and scored just five runs in three games. They had a .247 slugging percentage and a .436 OPS. Trent Grisham was 0-for-11. Jazz Chisholm Jr. was 0-for-8, Cody Bellinger was 1-for-12, Luis García Jr. was 1-for-10 and Spencer Jones was 1-for-9. 

-- Manager Aaron Boone made some lineup changes for Game 3 hoping for a spark and he got one, at least from his move of inserting Anthony Volpe at second base in place of Chisholm. Volpe singled and scored in the fourth inning and then hit one of the most impactful balls of the night in the sixth. José Caballero, who started at third in place of Ryan McMahon, was 0-for-2. Boone also moved Grisham to the leadoff spot, but he fizzled, going 0-for-5.

-- In the ninth, the Yankees got the tying run into scoring position, to no avail. Rays closer Bryan Baker struck out Volpe leading off but then walked Jones on four pitches. Baker then got Chisholm, who had entered two innings earlier as a pinch-hitter, to ground into a fielder’s choice for the second out. Chisholm stole second to put the tying run in scoring position, but Baker struck out Grisham to end the game and the Yankee season. 

-- Twice before in best-of-five division series play, the Yankees had lost the first two games and rallied to win the series. The first time it happened was in 2001 against Oakland, the series in which Derek Jeter made the Flip Play, and the other was in 2017 against Cleveland. But it was not to be this time. 

-- With two outs in the sixth, a runner on first and the Yanks down by two, Volpe lofted a ball toward the stands in left field that kept carrying. Fans reached for the ball as Victor Mesa Jr. leapt for it and the play was originally ruled a home run, which would have tied the score. But a lengthy crew chief review determined that there was spectator interference – fans’ hands clearly grabbed for the ball in the field of play. It was reminiscent of ‘96 and the Jeffrey Maier incident, though that one worked out better for the Yanks. Volpe was placed at second and umps ruled that George Lombard Jr. would have scored from first base. Rays manager Kevin Cash came out to argue, but the Rays' lead was trimmed to 4-3. 

-- The Rays snapped a 2-2 tie in the top of the sixth inning by scoring with two outs and knocking out Yankee starter Max Fried. First, Junior Caminero hit a single up the middle. Then Mesa, a lefty hitter who enjoyed so much success against lefties this year in a limited sample (.333 in 60 at-bats) that he was moved up to cleanup against Fried, smacked a 401-foot home run to right-center. The blast gave Tampa Bay a 4-2 lead. 

-- Fried threw 5.2 innings and allowed four runs and seven hits while striking out seven and walking none. He was fine, but never seemed to be able to stop the Rays and gave up home runs to Ryan Vilade and Mesa. In 26 postseason games (16 starts) in his career, Fried has a 5.11 ERA. 

-- The Rays broke through against Fried in the third for a 1-0 lead and it could’ve been worse if they had not gambled on the bases. With two outs and runners on first and second, Jonathan Aranda smacked a single to right field. Jonny DeLuca scored and Aranda got hung up between first and second when Jones’ throw home was cut off. Taylor Walls, who had raced to third on the hit, broke for home and was erased in a rundown, 9-3-6-2. The Rays, clearly trying to force the Yankees to make a play, might have built a bigger inning if they had been more cautious. Before Aranda’s hit, the Rays had been 1-for-19 with runners in scoring position in the series. 

-- The Yanks tied the score at 1 in the bottom half of the third thanks to – who else? – Ben Rice. Entering the night, Rice’s pair of solo home runs in Game 2 were the only runs the Yanks had mustered in the series. In the third, he hit a two-out, RBI single to score Jones, who had walked. At that point, Rice had driven in nine of the Yankees’ 21 runs this postseason. 

-- A half-inning after he leapt at the wall and just missed Vilade’s Yankee Stadium homer in right field, Jones re-tied the score at 2 with an RBI double. First, the homer – Vilade swatted an outside pitch from Fried 340 feet to right and Jones, who is 6-foot-7, leapt to try to snare it but the ball was out of his reach. It was Vilade’s first career postseason longball in his first career postseason game and it gave the Rays a 2-1 lead. It was also a drive that would have been a home run in only one park – the one the game was played in. Then with two outs in the bottom of the frame, Volpe smacked a 97 mph liner off Rays starter Nick Martinez for a hit. Tampa Bay went to its bullpen for lefty Ian Seymour to face Jones, who is comfortable against same-side pitchers – he batted .389 against lefties during the regular season. Jones hit a liner to the opposite field, past Mesa. Volpe sprinted from first to score and Jones took third on the throw home and was credited with a two-bagger.

-- The Yankees turned a pretty rare 6-5-3 double play in the first inning, thanks to third baseman Caballero being shifted toward the second base bag against Aranda, a lefty. Aranda hit a hard grounder to shortstop Lombard and Lombard flipped to Caballero, presumably because Caballero was so close to the bag and moving in the direction of first base. Volpe, playing second, was there, too. Caballero touched second and threw to first for the twin kill. Nifty collab.

-- After the Yanks used Chisholm as a pinch-hitter for Caballero, he remained in the game to play second base and Volpe moved from second to third. Entering the game, Volpe had exactly one appearance in the major leagues at third. He fielded his first chance cleanly Wednesday. 

-- Boone took a shot with Giancarlo Stanton as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning with a runner on first and two out. The Rays brought in righty reliever Kevin Kelly to face Stanton, who was 0-for-1 in the series entering the game. Kelly struck him out on a 2-2 changeup clocked at 85 mph, ending the frame.

Highlights

What's next

The Yankees will have an entire offseason to try and build another postseason contender as they look for their first World Series win since 2009.

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