Rays complete Yankees sweep

Tampa Bay finished a three-game sweep of the Yankees on Sunday, beating New York 5-4 behind six scoreless innings from Drew Rasmussen. (espn.com) The Rays won all three games at Tropicana Field by a combined four runs: 5-3 on Friday, 5-4 in 10 innings on Saturday, and 5-4 on Sunday. Tampa Bay moved to 8-7, while New York fell to 8-7 with a five-game losing streak. (espn.com) (baseball-reference.com 1) (baseball-reference.com 2) Sunday’s game turned early. Chandler Simpson went 3 for 4, scored twice and stole his seventh base of the season, and the Rays built a 3-0 lead before the Yankees scored in the seventh. (espn.com) Saturday’s middle game was tighter. Tampa Bay tied it in the 10th on Taylor Walls’ bunt single, then won 5-4 when Jonathan Aranda brought home Chandler Simpson on a fielder’s choice against David Bednar. (mlb.com) (espn.com) Friday set the tone for the series. Steven Matz struck out seven in five innings, Yandy Díaz hit a two-run homer in the first, and the Yankees managed five hits in a 5-3 loss. (espn.com) (mlb.com) The sweep was Tampa Bay’s first three-game sweep of New York since 2021. It also pushed the Rays above.500 for the first time this season. (espn.com) For New York, the series sharpened an early-season problem. The Yankees dropped to 0-6 in one-run games by Sunday, and catcher Austin Wells said after Friday’s loss that “we’ve got to hit” after another game in which the pitching staff kept the score close. (espn.com) (mlb.com) The setting added its own wrinkle. The Yankees were back at Tropicana Field for the first time in 638 days after the Rays spent months repairing hurricane damage, including a complete roof replacement, according to MLB.com’s Yankees beat coverage. (mlb.com) One sequence from the series spread well beyond the box scores: Josh Naylor’s pickoff at first base, an unusual first-baseman play that became one of the weekend’s most-circulated clips. The sweep itself was more conventional: Tampa Bay got starting pitching, late outs and just enough offense three days in a row. (mlb.com) (espn.com)