TAMPA — At times Thursday night, it did not take much squinting to make it look like the Yankees and Rays were playing a Grapefruit League exhibition.
Beyond the game being played at George M. Steinbrenner Field, now the home of the Rays, there was Ben Rice mashing and the Yankees using a parade of pitchers after an early exit by their starter.
Fortunately for the Yankees, the former is no longer just a spring mirage, and that helped compensate for the latter issue.
Rice, who continues to smoke the ball, collected his first four-hit night, and the Yankees bullpen perfected the art of bending without breaking in a 6-3 win over the Rays in front of a sellout crowd of 10,046 that favored the visitors.
“What a great team effort,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Position players’ at-bats, grinding away. Obviously, the bullpen coming up huge to different degrees. … It’s a feel-good one right there.”
After Will Warren recorded just five outs because of a soaring pitch count (throwing 38 pitches in the second inning before he was pulled), the Yankees (12-7) pieced together the rest of the game with Ryan Yarbrough (2 ²/₃ innings), Tim Hill (two innings), Ian Hamilton (1 ²/₃ innings) and Devin Williams (one inning).
The group performed something of a high-wire act, leaving the bases loaded three times through the first five innings (twice by Yarbrough, once by Hill) to keep the Rays (8-11) from blowing the game open and giving the Yankees a chance to get back in it.
“They did a phenomenal job,” Warren said. “Yarbs came in and got out of a big jam. Then just the length out of all those guys. Tim went three ups, Hammy went [1 ²/₃] innings, and then Dev slamming the door.”
One aspect of the night that certainly was not spring training-like was Jazz Chisholm Jr. getting ejected in the seventh inning for vehemently arguing balls and strikes, then going back to the clubhouse and posting on social media, “Not even f–king close!!!!!” (which he later deleted).
The Yankees trailed 3-1 in the fifth inning when Oswaldo Cabrera homered and a Rice double helped set up Cody Bellinger’s RBI fielder’s choice that tied the game off Taj Bradley.
Then in the sixth, they took the lead on Jasson Domínguez’s RBI fielder’s choice before Rice drove in a pair of insurance runs on his fourth hit of the night, a single to left-center.
“He’s torching the baseball all over the field,” Warren said. “It’s huge. We can put up five runs in any inning at any point, all the way through the lineup. It’s unbelievable.”
Warren was knocked out of the game with two outs and the bases loaded in the second inning because of the mounting pitch count — Boone said he was not going to let Warren go past 40 pitches in the inning. The last three batters the young right-hander faced put together at-bats of seven, nine and eight pitches, respectively, resulting in a walk, a sacrifice fly (that tied the game 1-1) and another walk.
“I just think the execution wasn’t quite where we wanted it,” Warren said. “I think it comes down to you don’t have to be so fine.”
But his bullpen picked him up. Yarbrough relieved Warren and struck out Brandon Lowe to leave the bases loaded.
Junior Caminero took Yarbrough deep for a two-run homer and the 3-1 lead in the third inning, but Yarbrough left the bases loaded later in the frame when Chisholm started an inning-ending double play.
Aaron Judge, who put the Yankees ahead in the first inning with an RBI single, helped Warren out in the bottom of the frame by throwing a runner out at third base, another play that made sure the game did not get out of hand early.
“Feels good here,” Rice said. “Little weird being on the visiting side today but just glad we were able to come out with the win.”
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