ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Jeffrey Springs has done a lot right since moving into the Tampa Bay rotation on May 9. In making his fourth start Friday, Springs made just a few mistakes, allowing a pair of solo home runs.
But it was enough to sink the Rays, who had another woefully quiet night at the plate and lost, 2-0.
The Yankees improved their majors-best record to 33-13 in taking the first two games of the four-game series, while the Rays dropped to 26-19 and a season-high 6 1/2 games back.
Springs zipped through the first two innings and pitched his way into and out of a jam in the third.
But the fourth was costly. Gleyber Torres led off by knocking an 0-1 fastball over the center-field fence. An out later, Matt Carpenter, who was signed on Thursday after being released from a Triple-A contract with Texas, drove a first-pitch fastball into the right-field seats.
His Rays mates provided little support before an announced crowd of 19,018.
A night after being shut out into the ninth by Nestor Cortes, they managed only two hits (and no walks) in eight innings against Yankees right-hander Jameson Taillon.
The Rays were held hitless by Taillon through four innings.
Randy Arozarena opened the fifth by singling on a grounder that got by shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa, then promptly got caught stealing. That was the 11th out Arozarena has made on the bases — caught stealing four times, trying to advance seven times.
The Rays got their second hit when Manuel Margot led off the sixth with a double, extending his hitting streak to 14 games. That is the longest active streak in the American League and the longest by a Ray since Austin Meadows went 16 straight in 2019. The Rays’ team record is 19, set by Jason Bartlett in 2019.
Going back to the second inning of Wednesday’s game, the Rays have scored two runs over their last 24 innings.
