Yankee Stadium had been a safe haven for the Yankees over the past three seasons — the team hadn’t been swept at home since August 2017 and had won 66.8 percent of games played in the Bronx over that span. They hadn’t even lost once at home in 2020 before this week.
Then the Tampa Bay Rays rolled into town. The Rays came out and took three straight games from the Yankees on their home turf, stealing first place in the AL East. Thursday’s 10-5 loss played out like many a Yankees-Rays game before: Tampa’s pitching was sharp, their offense was opportunistic, and the Yankees stranded too many baserunners to win the game.