ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Presented with a chance Wednesday to move closer to hosting the A’s in the AL wild-card game next week, the Yankees failed miserably on several levels for eight innings.
First, Masahiro Tanaka spit out a three-run lead in the home first and struggled through four-plus innings of a very sloppy 8-7 loss to the Rays in front of 11,325 at Tropicana Field.
Next, Giancarlo Stanton popped out with two runners on and one out in the third and choked a serious scoring threat in the fifth when he banged into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded.