Giancarlo Stanton, Ben Rice homer as Yankees top Rays for third straight win
Ben Rice of the Yankees celebrates his second-inning three-run home run against the Tampa Bay Rays with teammate Ryan McMahon at Yankee Stadium on Thursday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
If one is looking for a final analysis from an insane day in the Yankees’ drive for the postseason, it ended up coming from an unlikely source on Thursday evening: new addition Jose Caballero.
When the series finale between the Yankees and Rays began, he was in the third-base dugout as a Rays reserve. He entered as a second baseman in the fifth inning, but by the end of the game — on a wild final day before the 6 p.m. trade deadline — the American League stolen base leader was in the home clubhouse packing to travel with the Yankees to Miami.
“I was winning today, regardless,” he said after the Yankees beat the Rays, 7-4, in a game that was interrupted for 2 hours, 45 minutes by torrential rain. “We won the game — I guess that’s what I feel right now.”
The Yankees launched their stretch run toward the postseason on two fronts. In Tampa, general manager Brian Cashman was completing a slew of trades for four players with the games ahead in mind. In the Bronx, the club was in a battle with another postseason contender going for one of the actual wins that will get them to the playoffs. Caballero’s in-game trade was merely where the fronts came together.
The Yankees (60-49) have won three straight and four of their past five games. They moved within 3 1⁄2 games of the AL East-leading Blue Jays and begin a six-game road trip against the Marlins and resurgent Rangers with the first of three games in Miami on Friday night. Aaron Boone said he expects all of the new Yankees in place before first pitch against the Marlins.
The front in Tampa had been relatively quiet while the one in New York was filled with bombshells early in the afternoon. Before news leaked out that Cashman was nearing a deal for major bullpen upgrade David Bednar of Pittsburgh, Cody Bellinger had singled home a run, Giancarlo Stanton had hit a two-run homer and Ben Rice had hit a three-run shot. The Yankees scored the first seven runs of the game in the first three innings.
Marcus Stroman cruised through the first three innings as that lead was built but faltered as the Rays rallied for four runs in the fourth. He pitched a scoreless fifth before the rain halted play in the bottom of the inning with runners at the corners and one out.
While it was being determined whether the game would continue, the Yankees were in their clubhouse and glued to their phones as things heated up in Tampa.
“There was a buzz throughout the clubhouse and guys were definitely following the information and the rumors and all that was coming out,” said Boone, who now has Bednar, Camilo Doval and Jake Bird in his bullpen. “We knew we were probably sitting in a long delay and even a thought of ‘I don’t know if we’re going back out on the field.’
“[When] that started to become more of a reality . . . you start turning it on: ‘The game’s in the balance here. Let’s go finish this thing.’ ”
“Seeing who had the best internet connection . . . [and] watching the ticker,” said Stanton, whose 432-foot home run off Tampa Bay starter Ryan Pepiot landed 20 rows up in the bleachers in left-center and made the score 3-0 in the first inning. “For having that long delay, at least it was entertaining . . . We got some really great additions that they fit nicely and help us make this push right here.”
Rice’s 16th homer, a 400-foot shot into the Yankees’ bullpen, followed a six-pitch walk to Ryan McMahon and a nine-pitch walk to Anthony Volpe to make it 6-0 in the second. Austin Slater — acquired from the White Sox on Wednesday — had an RBI forceout in the third for the 7-0 lead.
Stroman (3-2) was done after five innings when the rain hit and Yerry De los Santos retired all nine batters he faced after the game resumed. Jonathan Loaisiga pitched a scoreless ninth for his first save.
The in-game trade for Caballero came around the end of the seventh and was an oddity. Boone saw him hugging Rays players goodbye in the other dugout before he knew that the Yankees would be his destination. The Rays were forced to use backup catcher Matt Thaiss at first base because manager Kevin Cash had emptied the bench to cover for injuries to Yandy Diaz, Jonathan Aranda and Chandler Simpson.
Boone is a baseball lifer, and though he couldn’t remember an in-game trade, he fondly remembered that as a kid, he had Joel Youngblood’s baseball card and “he got hits for two teams in the same day.”
Upon seeing Caballero (who said he grew up a Yankees fan in Panama) after the game, Boone said he told him, “We’ve had some battles, but I like your game.”
Notes & quotes: The Yankees traded Oswald Peraza to the Angels, ending his eight years in the organization. After the game, he said through an interpreter, “Everything happens for a reason and I’m going to be forever grateful to the Yankees' organization for giving me an opportunity to start this career. I came in and got a call from the [Angels'] organization, which I am very grateful to for the opportunity coming up.” . . . The Yankees optioned De los Santos and reliever Ian Hamilton to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after the game.
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
More Yankees headlines
