Yankees fail to hold two late leads against Rays, lose fourth straight

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Taylor Walls and Jonathan Aranda had run-scoring infield grounders in the 10th inning, and the Rays rallied late twice to walk-off the Yankees, 5-4, Saturday night. The Yankees have now lost four straight games. 

José Caballero, in a 1-for-29 slide, had two separate go-ahead hits for the Yankees. His two-out, two-run double off Bryan Baker gave the Yankees a 3-2 lead in the eighth inning, but Tampa Bay tied the score in the bottom half when Nick Fortes doubled leading off against Max Fried and pinch-runner Chandler Simpson scored on Yandy Díaz's infield single, a high-hopper to first baseman Ben Rice.

Caballero had an RBI single in the 10th against Cole Sulser  to take a 4-3 lead, but Simpson reached on a bunt single off David Bednar leading off the bottom half, moving automatic runner Cedric Mullins to third. Walls then bunted to Bednar, whose throw home was too late to catch Mullins on what was ruled a single.

Díaz was intentionally walked and, with leftfielder Cody Bellinger brought in on the right side of a five-man infield, Hunter Feduccia struck out.

One batter later, Aranda hit a one-hopper over Bellinger that glanced off the glove of onrushing second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr., as Simpson crossed the plate standing on what was scored a fielder's choice. After recovering the ball, Chisholm threw too late to first trying for what he thought could be a double play, hoping Díaz would be ruled out for evading him on the basepath.

The Yankees are hitting .142 (18-for-127) with six extra-base hits during their four-game losing streak. Reigning AL MVP Aaron Judge was 0-for-3 with two walks and is hitting .212.

Fried allowed three runs and six hits in eight innings. Rays starter Nick Martinez gave up one run in 4 2/3 innings, coming on Austin Wells' second-inning homer.