Rays 5, Yankees 4

By Mike Whiteman April 12, 2026 Born on this day in in 1895 was Sammy Vick. In 1919, Vick was the Yankees' primary right fielder, batting .248 with two home runs. The next year, he was replaced by a fella named Babe Ruth, whose 54 home runs were more than the whole 1919 team combined. Legend has it that Vick was the only player to ever pinch hit for the Babe, though documentation of this feat is hard to come by. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/v/vicksa01.shtml https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/Sammy-Vick/ Quick Stats: The Yankees are 8-6 and in first place in the American League East. They improved their batting average to .202 on the season (it was .201 going into the game). Hey, I gotta look for highlights where I can! The Yankees' 2.60 ERA leads the American League, and is only behind Atlanta in all of Major League Baseball. Big Story: The Yankees scored first when Austin Wells smacked a solo home run in the second inning - a welcome site! The Yankees didn't hold the lead long, as the Rays came back and scored a run of their own when Jonny DeLuca singled in Junior Caminero. Yankee starter Max Fried held until Jonathan Aranda's sacrifice fly in the sixth gave Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead. The cold Yankee bats did nothing until they finally broke through in the eighth when Jose Caballero doubled in Randal Grichuk and Jazz Chisholm. Suddenly the Yankees had a 3-2 lead and Aaron Boone sent the pitch efficient Fried out for the eighth inning. Nick Fortes led off with a double and after being sacrificed to third Yandy Diaz drove him home and we had a tie game. After a scoreless ninth off to extras we go. The Yanks scored in the top when Caballero drove in Grichuk. David Bednar went in search of his sixth save of the season, but all went wrong as the Rays scored two runs "powered" by two bunt singles and an infield chopper. Rays win, 5-4.

Player of the Game: While Caballero's performance was welcome, I have to go with Fried's eight inning effort. I'm partial to starting pitchers going deep into games. I'm also becoming partial to Fried, who despite his solid start vocalized how he felt he let the team down by not tossing a scoreless eighth.

Notable Performances: The bottom of the lineup (Wells, Caballero, Ryan McMahon, Amed Rosario) had four hits and four RBI. Better to Forget: The Yanks were 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position. They Said It: "Today felt like we hit the balls on the screws quite a bit. Some for outs in some big spots. Encouraging to see that." - Aaron Boone. My Take: I try not to be too excitable about baseball in April, but in my most profound statement of the day, I will state that the first week of the season was more fun than the second. Trying to keep it all in perspective, I'll note all other AL East teams were under .500 going into yesterday's games, and the Yankees were one of just three teams in the American League with a record over .500. I anticipate that will straighten out in due time. I'm confident that the offense will not struggle like this for long, but I suspect the Yankee pitching staff will not pitch to a 2.60 ERA all season either. It sure feels like a lost opportunity to win some games while the rest of the division struggles. . A frustrating loss but it was good to see a little life to the bats - eight hits isn't exactly a reincarnation of Murderer's Row - but last night was only the second time this month they had that many base knocks. Last night Austin Wells' ABS challenge behind the plate turned a called ball into a strike. I read in The Athletic yesterday that the Yankees had lost 11 of their last 13 ABS challenges. They looked ahead of the ABS curve coming out of the gates, but have settled in the middle of the pack, 17th overall in success. Yankee catchers have done well, their 75% success rating is third in MLB but hitters are 22nd with 43.5%. This is where Boone needs to respond with some structure/planning to use the new system wisely. I read that he spoke with Jose Caballero about poor ABS choices before last night's game, which is a good thing. Next Up: Avoid the sweep! Cam Schlittler (2-0, 1.62) toes the rubber against Drew Rasmussen (0-0, 1.80). Gametime is 1:40.