Yankees fall to Taylor Walls, Rays for split of series
Yankees starting pitcher Luis Severino watches the ball after giving up a home run to the Rays during the fifth inning of a game Sunday in St. Petersburg, Fla. Credit: AP/Scott Audette
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — It was light-hitting Tampa Bay infielder Taylor Walls who, after a loss to the Yankees in the first game of this four-game series, called the AL East leaders “very beatable.”
The Yankees mostly shrugged.
But Walls and the Rays went on to back up his observation, taking the final two games, including Sunday’s 4-2 victory at Tropicana Field, to split the teams’ first series of 2022.
Walls — who entered his fifth-inning at-bat in a 1-for-34 slump that had dropped his batting average to .144 and who had two homers in 301 previous MLB plate appearances — hit a go-ahead home run off Luis Severino and made a pair of standout defensive plays to snuff out Yankees rallies. The Yankees outhit the Rays 9-2 but went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
Gleyber Torres and Aaron Judge homered for the Yankees, who left town with the same 4½-game lead over the Rays that they had when they arrived to face their plucky division rivals.
“It just wasn’t our day,” Judge said. “Every time we come here to the Trop, it’s always a battle with them. They’ve got a great ballclub over there . . . We got ‘em the first two, they got us the last two. We’ll see them again.”
Walls didn’t back down from his original comment, saying in an on-field interview: “Every team in this league’s beatable. Especially when we’re playing them.”
The Yankees took a 1-0 lead when Torres led off the second with a towering home run to left off lefthander Shane McClanahan. It was his’ ninth home run of the season in his 161st plate appearance. Last season, he had nine home runs in 516 plate appearances.
The Yankees could have had more — remember that theme — after Miguel Andujar singled and moved to third when Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s one-out grounder skipped under the glove of first baseman Yandy Diaz for an error. But after fouling off a safety-squeeze bunt attempt, Kyle Higashioka struck out and Joey Gallo (0-for-4, average down to .167) grounded into the shift to end the inning.
Ji-Man Choi tied it when he led off the bottom of the second with an opposite-field homer to left.
The Yankees had another golden chance in the third when singles by DJ LeMahieu and Judge put runners at the corners with none out. But Anthony Rizzo (0-for-4, .213) struck out, as did Torres, and Andujar grounded into a forceout to end the threat.
Walls made it 2-1 with his fifth-inning home run to right, the Rays' second and final hit of the day. That raised his average to .152.
Torres and Andjuar opened the sixth with consecutive singles, giving the Yankees another shot with a runner in scoring position. But Aaron Hicks lined out to third and Kiner-Falefa grounded into an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play.
McClanahan (5-2, 2.01 ERA) went six innings, allowing seven hits and striking out seven.
“Obviously, McClanahan’s been one of the best pitchers in the league,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Gave ourselves some good opportunities there . . . Against a guy like that, you try and give yourself opportunities, but obviously you’ve got to capitalize. Just couldn’t quite break through.”
Severino, who hadn’t walked a batter, issued free passes to Wander Franco and Choi to begin the seventh. After striking out Manuel Margot, Severino was replaced by rookie Ron Marinaccio, who walked Walls to load the bases, walked pinch hitter Harold Ramirez to force in a run and hit Mike Zunino with his first pitch to him to hand Tampa Bay a 4-1 advantage.
Severino (3-1, 3.38 ERA) went 6 1/3 innings and was charged with four runs. He allowed two hits — the home runs — and struck out eight.
Judge gave the majority Yankees fans in the modified sellout crowd of 25,025 (the upper deck was closed) something to cheer about when he led off the eighth with a 420-foot homer off lefthander Colin Poche that landed in front of the stingrays tank in right-center. Judge’s MLB-best 18th home run made it 4-2.
Torres (3-for-4) singled with one out and moved to second on a wild pitch, creating another RISP situation. Andujar fouled out, but after Torres stole third, Hicks hit a hot shot up the middle that seemed ticketed for an RBI single to center. Walls, playing second after beginning the game at third, made a sliding backhanded stab and threw out Hicks to end the inning. Hicks went 0-for-4 and is batting .200, but he hit three balls hard and had nothing to show for it.
“They made two huge defensive plays today,” Boone said. “The double play on the Kiner-Falefa ball that Walls made in the hole there to be able to turn that one, and then pretty special play there up the middle.”
Anthony Rieber covers sports media and business and professional sports (you know, games and trades and things). He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since Jan. 1, 2026.
