Monday, July 15. Game 96: A More Perfect Game

Rays 5, Yankees 4

Record:  56-40

Attendance:  43,173


Okay, Sunday's near-masterpiece came closer to 27 up, 27 down, a perfect game, than Sunday's come-from-behind thriller that beat the Yankees, 5-4.  But from a Rays' point of view, this may have been the most perfect game they've ever played.

Travis d'Arnaud batting leadoff started the game with a home run to right center off Yankee starter James Paxton, and then in the third he did it again.  It looked like an instant replay.  Two nothing Rays.  Edwin Encarnacion got one back with a line drive homer to left, making it 2-1.  Then in the seventh, Gio Urshela tied it up with another homer.

As if to put their customary stamp of victory on the game, the Yankees got a two-run blast from Encarnacion in the bottom of the eighth, 4-2 Yankees.  But in the top of the ninth, with the Yankees calling on their ace closer Aroldis Chapman, the game got interesting.  Kevin Kiermaier singled.  So did Guillermo Heredia.  But Chapman struck out Willy Adames and Joey Wendle.  Two out and two on and up comes d'Arnaud, who already had two homers and two walks, one of the best performances in his career.

Chapman attacked d'Arnaud with fastballs that reached 101 on the radar gun and off-speed pitches that fell in and around the strike zone at 84 MPH.  D'Arnaud took close pitches and fouled off the  hundred mile an hour fastballs.  And then on a 3-2 pitch, d'Arnaud took an off-speed pitch to right, a high-arching ball that landed in the third row of the short porch in Yankee Stadium.  And suddenly the Rays were ahead 5-4.  They held on in the bottom of the ninth and won the game.  Just perfect.

And as if to put a point on it, Tampa Bay Times columnist John Romano reminded us in Tuesday's paper that there is a wide disparity in the payrolls of the Yankees and Rays, who have the lowest payroll in all of Boston.  "New York's payroll is about 360 percent higher than Tampa Bay's."

The July 31 trade deadline is creeping up and both clubs will make deals--but the Yankees will find front-line players who will add big numbers to their 2019 pennant run while the Rays will settle for little known middle relievers who fit the bullpen profile.