Harrison Bader's clutch two-out, two-run single in eighth lifts Yankees over Rays

 ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Harrison Bader delivered the biggest blow of a dispiriting Yankees loss Friday, hitting a tying three-run homer in what became a one-run loss.

The centerfielder, one of the Yankees' few postseason stars offensively last year, came through again Saturday, this time in a winning cause that was much needed for the team the Bronxville native grew up rooting for.

Bader, who  singled as a pinch hitter in the seventh, looped a first-pitch slider to right with two outs in the eighth for a two-run single that put the Yankees ahead in a 3-2 victory over the Rays in front of a noisy crowd of 27,078 at Tropicana Field.

“Just a really good team win to bounce back off of from the previous night,” Bader said. “That’s what this team’s made of. It was a good win for us, top to bottom.”

The Yankees (18-16) trailed 2-0 from the first inning on before scoring three times in the eighth to take the lead over a Rays team that came in 27-6 — and 10 games ahead of the Yankees — and had been 22-0 this season when scoring first.

Anthony Rizzo started the rally with a one-out single off righthander Kevin Kelly. Gleyber Torres singled and DJ LeMahieu slashed an RBI double to right to make it 2-1. Willie Calhoun popped out, but Bader, who started the day on the bench, swung at the first pitch he saw and sent it over the head of second baseman Brandon Lowe for one of the biggest hits of the season for the Yankees.

That was evident in the eruption seen in the dugout when the ball — a “wedge shot,” as Bader described it — plunked onto the turf, and then the raucous clubhouse celebration that could be heard in Aaron Boone’s office as he conducted his postgame news conference.

“Any time you play here and know how tough it is to play here against that team and how well they’re playing [now], for us to scratch and claw our way back last night and lose a tough one and then fall behind today and keep on scratching [is impressive],” Boone said. “I know we’re in a tough spot right now and beat up or whatever, but I know those guys are competing.”

After Clay Holmes pitched a scoreless eighth, Ian Hamilton allowed a 400-foot out to the warning track in centerfield by Jose Siri and a two-out double by Luke Raley but retired pinch hitter Isaac Paredes on a flyout to right for his first career save.

Holmes has had an inconsistent start to the season, and although Boone did not say he has been demoted from the closer role, he left open the possibility of someone other than Holmes closing games in the near future.

Domingo German, who was yanked after 8 1/3 brilliant innings in his previous start against the Guardians — a move heartily endorsed by Cleveland players in the dugout because they knew they couldn’t touch him that night — wasn’t quite that good, but he wasn’t bad. The righthander, 2-2 with a 4.46 ERA coming in, allowed two runs, four hits and two walks in five innings in which he struck out five.  

The two runs came in a 27-pitch first when Manuel Margot smoked a 107.9-mph ground smash through LeMahieu at third for a two-run double that made it 2-0. Though it would have been a tough play — it literally knocked him down — it was one that LeMahieu, who generally is Gold Glove-caliber at the position, probably should have made.

But German settled down and Wandy Peralta, Ron Marinaccio and Holmes got the ball to Hamilton, who sealed it after Bader’s big moment.

“He does definitely bring some intangible things about him,” Boone said of the energetic but ultra-serious-about-the-game Bader. “I think there’s a joy that he plays the game with that I do feel like is a little bit infectious.”