ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — As has been the case too often during their recent stretch of offensive futility, the Yankees didn’t get many hits — this time just three — on Monday night.
But José Caballero and Ben Rice got their money’s worth, and Cam Schlittler made sure they were enough.
Caballero clobbered a pair of home runs, Rice added another and Schlittler delivered a masterful pitching performance, the combination lifting the Yankees to a much-needed and clean 5-1 win over the Rays to open a critical four-game showdown at Tropicana Field.
Caballero crushed a three-run home run in the fifth inning — the Yankees’ first and only hit off Rays righty Griffin Jax — and added a solo shot in the eighth before Rice unloaded on a solo blast of his own in the ninth.
Schlittler dazzled for eight innings and made the three home runs stand up to lift the Yankees (50-40) to just their second win in the last 11 games, this one pulling them within three games of the Rays (52-36) for the AL East lead.
Schlitter was nearly untouchable, scattering just four soft-hit singles — all off the bat at 73.6 mph or slower — and no walks while striking out eight. The right-hander was coming off the worst start of his young career, when he gave up a career-high six runs and four home runs in four innings last week against the Tigers. His time before that, he allowed four runs (all unearned) in five innings against the Red Sox.
That it had come during a brutal stretch for the Yankees only magnified the rare hiccups. But he responded in impressive fashion to kick off about as big a series as July can offer.
The Yankees had led the Rays by as many as 3 ¹/₂ games for the division on June 17. It was a three-game lead on June 24, after which the Yankees dropped nine of 10 and the Rays won nine of 11, putting Tampa Bay four games up entering Monday’s series opener.
The night started like so many others have lately for the Yankees, as they sent 13 men to the plate and all 13 of them returned to the dugout without getting on base. But then Jasson Domínguez and Jazz Chisholm Jr. drew back-to-back walks with one out in the fifth inning before Caballero drilled a three-run shot to left field — flush with an emphatic bat flip — for the 3-0 lead.
Caballero, starting at shortstop over Anthony Volpe, then took Chris Roycroft deep in the eighth inning — chucking his bat toward the Yankees dugout — to make it 4-1 on his career-high 10th home run of the season.
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Rice later added his 25th of the year in the ninth for an insurance run.
The Rays’ only run off Schlittler came in the fifth inning when the speedy Chandler Simpson reached on a one-out dribbler to third base and took second on a groundout. He came around to score on Richie Palacios’ soft line drive to left field with two strikes and two outs to make it a 3-1 game.
