Rays fail to convert several chances, get walked off by Yankees in 9th

NEW YORK - The Rays lost Sunday's game 2-0 when slumping Yankees slugger Aaron Judge powered a Kevin Kelly sinker over the right-centerfield fence with one on in the ninth inning.

"I honestly first thought that was a fly out," said Kelly, who hadn't allowed a run over his previous 15 1/3 innings. "But he's just such a big guy, he was able to muscle it out."

That blast halted the Rays' latest winning streak at five games, but still left them with an American League-best 34-16 record.

More costly, in a way, were their mistakes on the bases when trying to take an earlier lead on a cold, wet and windy day that featured strong outings by starters Drew Rasmussen (who completed seven innings for the first time in three years) and Yankees lefty Ryan Weathers.

"At the end of the day, tight ballgame, we did two things on the bases that really reduce your chances of winning, especially with the pitching duel that we had between Ras and Weathers," Rays manager Kevin Cash said.

Carson Williams made the first mistake, pre-empting what could have been a productive third-inning rally by getting picked off first after a leadoff walk, as Yandy Diaz and Jonathan Aranda then rapped back-to-back singles. Instead, the inning ended with no runs as Junior Caminero grounded into a double play.

"That's just the awareness to know that the guy's got a very good move," Cash said. "And just unfortunate to happen in that situation."

More glaring was Caminero getting thrown out trying to get to third base in the eighth inning, negating what otherwise would have been a go-ahead run.

Oliver Dunn was on second (pinch-running for Diaz, who had a one-out double) and Caminero on first (after an intentional walk from a 2-0 count) when Ryan Vilade singled to left.

As Dunn headed home, Yankees leftfielder Cody Bellinger saw Caminero trying to get to third and wisely threw there rather than home, nabbing Caminero just before Dunn crossed the plate. The Rays challenged, but replay confirmed the call.

"Just trying to do a little bit too much," Cash said. "There's no reason to force anything getting to third base. You're talking about an elite leftfielder. The play's in front of you. Ideally, just hold up and let's score the run."

Caminero credited Bellinger for making a heads-up play.

"I thought he was going home," Caminero said via team interpreter Kevin Vera. "And I thought, because he was going home, I was going to third, just trying to put my team in a better opportunity.

"Obviously I feel bad because Vilade did his job. He hit one hard over into leftfield, and I just feel bad that I wasn't able to capitalize on that."

The Rays had another potential scoring opportunity in the ninth, getting two on with two outs after a Nick Fortes one-out walk, a Taylor Walls fielder's choice grounder (which forced out Fortes) and a Cedric Mullins single, but Richie Palacios struck out.

Instead, the Rays were shut out for just the second time in 50 games and wasted a sterling performance from Rasmussen, who scattered five hits and one walk over seven innings.

"I feel like realistically, whenever you give your team a chance to win you succeeded that day, and we were very much in that game over the course of my outing," he said. "So, yeah, very happy with how that turned out. It would have been nice to win that one, but sometimes it just doesn't unfold that way."

Cash liked pretty much everything he saw from Rasmussen, who rejoined the rotation last season after returning from his third major elbow surgery as a reliever in August 2024.

"He was outstanding," Cash said. "He had everything going, really commanded the ball the way he wanted to, really good fastball. The stuff, the combination, the velocity, the characteristics of the pitch, the carry (movement) that he was creating today, just a tremendous outing on his part."

Rasmussen, as is his wont, found some flaws in his work.

"I don't think command was great, but we still found ways to fill up the strike zone," he said. "I feel like I missed spots kind of all over the strike zone, but for the most part we were in the box, which it always gives you a chance for success."

That was Rasmussen's longest outing since May 11, 2023 - also a scoreless performance here at Yankee Stadium - and his last before being sidelined prior to his most recent elbow injury and surgery.

In doing so, he continued his mastery of the Yankees, with a 4-1 record and 0.89 ERA over nine games (eight starts).

Kelly, who allowed one hit in the eighth, made his first mistake in the ninth walking leadoff man Trent Grisham after getting ahead 0-2.

"The pitches weren't quite as close as I wanted to be, or like the change-up I'd rather be down than out, but yeah, he did a good job," Kelly said.

Worse was leaving the first-pitch sinker up to Judge, who came into Sunday's game in a 4-for-35 skid and homerless over his previous 11 games.

"I think I just left it a little too up," Kelly said. "He's a big guy, so if it's a little high on him, it's definitely way too high."

As tough as a loss as it was, the Rays said it's just part of a long season.

"These days are going to happen over the course of 162 (games)," Rasmussen said. "There's a lot of different things that are going to unfold. But, man, we fought for nine innings right there, and unfortunately it didn't go our way."

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This story was originally published May 24, 2026 at 4:19 PM.