BRONX — The 42,116 Yankees fans in attendance booed as the team walked off the field after the top of the fifth.
Albert Abreu had given up a go-ahead grand slam to Taylor Walls after taking over for starter Clarke Schmidt in what ended up being an 8-7 Yankees loss to the AL East-leading Tampa Bay Rays. The loss meant the Bombers split the four-game set with Tampa and let a fifth-inning comeback go to waste.
Six of their last eight wins had been in come-from-behind fashion entering Sunday’s series finale. New York, which had started the series last in the AL East, entered the game 7.0 games back of the Rays in the standings.
The Yankees had scored four runs off two home runs in the third inning to erase an early 3-0 hole that they found themselves in, but the Rays countered that in the fifth with a five-run inning. After Schmidt got the first batter of the inning to strike out, he walked Isaac Paredes and Wander Franco singled to get on base.
A sharp line drive by Brandon Lowe loaded the bases and Randy Arozarena hit what looked like it could be a three-run hit, but a diving catch by Harrison Bader limited the damage to just one run.
HARRISON BADER WHAT A PLAY! Rays tie it but Bader saves two runs! pic.twitter.com/csJ8nbUMrO
— Talkin’ Yanks (@TalkinYanks) May 14, 2023
Schmidt battled Josh Lowe to try and end the inning, however, with the count full the Yankees starter just missed with his knuckle curve and loaded the bases back up. Yankees manager Aaron Boone turned to Abreu after that and the reliever gave up a grand slam to Taylor Walls, the first batter he faced, to give Tampa an 8-4 lead.
“A big situation and my job is to go in there and minimize damage,” Abreu said. “Unfortunately, we missed the location (with the changeup pitch). You know, a pitch like that and in that count has to be down and away there. And missed the location, you know, and when you do that, you end up paying for it.”
The grand slam was the third that a…
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