Rays 5, Yankees 4: Ball don’t lie

Rays survive another nail- biter against rival Yankees

Over the past six seasons, has there been any more drama-filled games between two opponents other than the Rays and Yankees?

The wire-to-wire contests between the two clubs didn’t stop with this one, as things got interesting early.

In the bottom of the first, Yandy Diaz drives a pitch deep to center field, even bat-flipping after the swing thinking he got all of it.

As Yankees centerfielder Trent Grisham is tracking the ball, he suddenly changes direction as if the ball clips something mid-air.

Diaz coasts into second base wondering what happened, and a rarely-incensed Kevin Cash asks crew chief Vic Carapazza for a review to confirm the ball didn’t hit anything, presumably a catwalk, which would then be ruled a home run by Tropicana Field ground rules.

Carapazza removes his earpiece from listening to the replay crew in New York, and says that the call is confirmed.

As former NBA player Rasheed Wallace would be known for proclaiming very loudly on the court, “Ball don’t lie!”

Four pitches later, Randy Arozarena blasted a Nestor Cortes cutter that didn’t cut into the first row of seats in left field, and the Rays take a 2-0 lead.

In the top of innings two and three, respectively, Austin Wells and Juan Soto would hit solo home runs off of Rays righty Shane Baz to tie the contest at 2.

In the bottom of the third, Brandon Lowe singled in Diaz, and Amed Rosario doubled in Lowe to retake and double the lead. 4-2, Tampa Bay.

Pete Fairbanks entered for the top of the ninth to shut the door on New York, and things got very interesting.

Ben Rice singled to score Oswaldo Cabrera to make is a 5-4 game and push Juan Soto to third.

On a 3-2 count with two outs, Gleyber Torres flies out to short center field. Jose Caballero snags the pop fly after nearly colliding with centerfielder Jose Siri, and after securing the baseball, drops it after celebrating.

The Yankees would make a catch or drop challenge, and after the review, the call would stand and the Rays prevent the Yankees from winning their first back-to back games since June 11-12.

The Rays start a three-game set against the AL Central-leading Cleveland Guardians, with Carlos Carrasco toeing the slab opposite Taj Bradley as the probable starting pitchers at 6:50 PM EST from Tropicana Field.