ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Yankees spent Friday preparing for the ballpark nobody likes to visit.
A machine fired pop-ups and fly balls high behind home plate so fielders could practice tracking the ball against Tropicana Field’s white roof. Infield coach Dan Fiorito ran relay drills off one- and two-hop grounders. The turf, the catwalks and the speed of the Tampa Bay Rays all got attention.
Manager Aaron Boone knew what kind of opponent was waiting. The Rays had built the American League’s best record by forcing mistakes.
“They put the ball in play. They can run. They push the envelope. You’ve got to take care of the ball against them,” Boone said.
Rays starter Drew Rasmussen has heard the complaints about his home park for years. He said his club has learned to live with its quirks.
“Obviously, we’ve adapted to it very well,” Rasmussen said.
The Yankees had reason to feel ready. They had just scored 18 runs in two games while sweeping the Boston Red Sox in the Wild Card Series. They did it without Aaron Judge, who was left off the Division Series roster Saturday morning with the calf strain he suffered Sept. 16.
Tampa Bay carried its own baggage. The Rays entered the series having lost seven straight postseason games. Cole took a 3.61 ERA into his Game 1 start, while Rasmussen countered with a 2.67 mark and a long track record against New York.
The ballpark the Yankees had studied all week ended up mattering far less than the pitcher standing on its mound.
None of the preparation touched the problem that decided Saturday night. The roof never cost them a ball. The catwalks never changed a play. The Yankees simply could not hit.
One hit, one swing, one stop sign
Rasmussen held the Yankees without a hit into the eighth inning, and the Rays won Game 1 of the American League Division Series 1-0 before a sellout crowd of 40,542.
The Yankees finished with one hit. It was the first postseason game in franchise history in which they had fewer than two.
Jonathan Aranda supplied the only run. With one out in the third inning, he drove a 2-2 changeup from Gerrit Cole 417 feet to right field.
Rasmussen (1-0) did the rest. He threw eight shutout innings, struck out 10, walked two and retired 15 straight batters at one point. His 10 strikeouts tied a Rays postseason record. Bryan Baker pitched a perfect ninth for the save.
Cole (0-1) took the loss, allowing one run on five hits over five innings with five strikeouts and one walk. Ryan Weathers, Paul Blackburn and Brent Headrick kept the Yankees bullpen scoreless the rest of the way.
The Yankees came close early. Rookie George Lombard Jr. lined out to the right-field warning track in the second inning, a 346-foot drive at 102 mph. Chandler Simpson made a sliding catch on a Luis García Jr. blooper to shallow left.
Austin Wells finally broke up the no-hit bid with two outs in the eighth, lining a ball down the right-field line. He ran through third-base coach Luis Rojas’ stop sign as he rounded second. Victor Mesa Jr. threw to Taylor Walls, whose relay to Junior Caminero cut Wells down at third.
Wells, Boone own the eighth
Austin Wells said the lack of offense pushed him to gamble for an extra base.
“We didn’t really have much going on there in the game, so every 90 feet matters,” Wells said.
He did not defend the call.
“You have to take risks, but in that situation, obviously the risk was wrong,” Wells said.
Boone called it a mistake but pointed elsewhere.
“Just obviously not a good decision there,” Boone said. “But the biggest issue is just Rasmussen shutting us down.”
Jazz Chisholm Jr. walked and stole second in the second inning, only to be stranded when Trent Grisham struck out looking. That was the Yankees’ only at-bat with a runner in scoring position all night. Chisholm credited Rasmussen’s command.
“He didn’t miss his spots today, he was all over the corners, he didn’t leave much pitches middle,” Chisholm said.
Boone sent Giancarlo Stanton up to pinch-hit for Ryan McMahon in the ninth. It was Stanton’s first at-bat since April 24. He struck out on five pitches.
Rasmussen’s grip on the Yankees
It was the third time this season Rasmussen held the Yankees to one hit.
He allowed one hit in six scoreless innings April 12. On Sept. 22, he took a no-hitter into the seventh and struck out 11 as the Rays clinched the AL East with a 6-1 win.
Across those three starts, Rasmussen allowed three hits in 20 2/3 innings. That is one hit for roughly every seven innings, against a lineup that averaged nine runs a game against Boston.
The wild-card outburst also masked a season-long pattern. The Yankees had been held to three or fewer hits 13 times through Sept. 22, according to The Associated Press. Saturday added another.
Schlittler gets the ball in Game 2
The Yankees now trail the best-of-five series 1-0 and have gone 2-6 at Tropicana Field this season, including Saturday.
Game 2 is Monday at 8 p.m. EDT. Cam Schlittler, 8-2 with a 1.16 ERA in 17 road starts, faces Rays right-hander Freddy Peralta, who is 5-0 with a 0.79 ERA over his last six starts.
Judge cannot return until the AL Championship Series. The Yankees would have to win three of the next four games to get there.
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
I normally don’t read your column, and for good reason. Today, I decided to make an exception. Once again, I was disappointed.
Your article’s headline said you discovered a weakness. I thought, “Maybe someone is finally paying attention!”
Well, no. In fact, you missed the glaring weakness even as you identified its lack on the opposing team.
“They put the ball in play.” That’s what teams built for power fail to do in tight situations. Problem is, you wrote it about the Rays, not the Yankees. That’s the problem. The Yankees are not constructed to put the ball in play. They’re constructed to hit home runs.
And that’s the giant weakness that the analytics advocates are unwilling to admit exists.