Yankees' Luis Gil struggles in season debut, Long Island's Steven Matz goes five strong for Rays in win
Rays pitcher Steven Matz throws against the Yankees during the first inning of a baseball game on Friday in St. Petersburg, Fla. Credit: AP/Chris O'Meara
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Yandy Díaz sparked a comeback with a tying, two-run homer in the first inning off Luis Gil, who made his first big-league start this season, and the Tampa Bay Rays won 5-3 on Friday night to extend the Yankees' losing streak to three (and fourth out of five games).
Long Island's Steven Matz (3-0) and three relievers combined on a five-hitter with 12 strikeouts.
Since their first three batters got hits against the A's on Wednesday, Yankees hitters are 7 for 86 (.081). They had a 22-batter stretch without a hit.
Yankees batters failed on two robot umpire challenges and have not succeeded in 13 straight attempts.
Playing at Tropicana Field for the first time since July 11, 2024, the Yankees took a 2-0 lead in the first. Aaron Judge singled, stole a base and scored on Cody Bellinger’s sacrifice fly, and Amed Rosario tripled on a one-hopper that went past leftfielder Chandler Simpson and bounced to the wall.
Gil, the 2024 AL Rookie of the Year, was left at Triple-A early this season when the Yankees didn't need a fifth starter because of off days. Given the early lead, he walked Jonathan Aranda with two outs in the a 32-pitch first and gave up Diaz’s 377-foot homer on a slider over the middle of the strike zone.
Simpson grounded into a run-scoring forceout in the second for a 3-2 lead against Gil, who allowed three runs, three hits and three walks in four innings.
After Judge took a step back and allowed Junior Caminero's sixth-inning fly to drop in right for a hit, Simpson had an RBI single and Aranda a run-scoring groundout.
Ben Rice hit first first major-league pinch homer in the eighth off Hunter Bigge.
The Yankees had runners at second in the third in the ninth before Bryan Baker struck out Randal Grichuk and retired pinch-hitter Trent Grisham on a popup for his second save.
Matz retired 13 of 15 hitters after early trouble and allowed two runs and five hits over five innings with seven strikeouts and two walks.
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