ST. PETERSBURG — Two-time All-Star Drew Rasmussen surrendered a season-high six runs on seven hits — all in the third inning — as the Tampa Bay Rays fell 12-4 to the New York Yankees at Tropicana Field on Thursday, splitting their four-game series.
Rasmussen exited after a season-low 2 1/3 innings despite throwing first-pitch strikes to 12 of the 14 batters he faced and issuing zero walks. The 35 pitches he threw in the third inning were tied for the third-most in any frame of his career, and the six runs allowed tied for the highest-scoring inning against him.
“I thought I did a really good job of controlling the things I could control,” Rasmussen said. “Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ve ever had an inning spiral like that.”
Rasmussen had entered the game with a 13-inning scoreless streak against the Yankees and a 0.89 ERA in nine career games — eight starts — against the division rival. He retired the first six batters before Max Schuemann led off the third with a double and Ryan McMahon worked a 12-pitch at-bat before lining an RBI double down the right-field line. After Austin Wells made the first out, the Yankees strung together five straight hits to take a 6-1 lead and chase Rasmussen. Trent Grisham singled, then Ben Rice lifted a homer just over the right-field fence, while Jasson Domínguez and Cody Bellinger reached on consecutive infield singles.
“It kind of snowballed from there a little bit where I felt like he was continuing to make good pitches, but you’ve got to give credit to the Yankee lineup,” manager Kevin Cash said. “They really spoiled some pitches, hung in there and then came up with some big hits.”
Junior Caminero provided the early lead with his 27th home run of the season, a Statcast-projected 438-foot blast to right-center field that gave him 12 homers in his last 16 games. “Obviously the last couple games, I didn’t feel really good at home plate,” Caminero said. “But it’s just part of the game, you know, up and down, up and down. Today, it came back, my confidence at home plate.”
The Rays loaded the bases with nobody out in the third and scored twice but finished 3-for-13 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. No Tampa Bay pitcher recorded a scoreless outing until infielder Ben Williamson threw a clean ninth with the game well out of reach.
“We just came up a little bit short. Certainly, when you’re playing four games against a team that you’re neck and neck in the division with, you want to see if you can pick up a game,” Cash said. “But if you’re not going to pick up one, you don’t want to lose any.”
The split leaves Tampa Bay with a four-game lead over New York in the American League East and the AL’s best record heading into the All-Star break. The Rays have won six of the clubs’ nine meetings this season and need to win just one of four games at Yankee Stadium in late September to claim the season series and a potentially important tiebreaker.