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The New York Yankees find themselves in a precarious position after dropping Game 2 of the American League Division Series to the Tampa Bay Rays by a score of 5-2 on Monday. With the best-of-five series shifting to Yankee Stadium for Game 3 on Wednesday at 8 p.m., the Yankees trail 0-2 and are desperate to keep their season alive.
"We didn't get it done," said left fielder Cody Bellinger, whose bases-loaded flyout to deep center field ended the fifth inning and left the game tied at 1-1. "We had opportunities." New York's defense was uncharacteristically sloppy, committing four errors, while ace right-hander Cam Schlittler struggled on the mound.
Schlittler, who allowed four runs (two earned) on six hits with two strikeouts and one walk over 4.1 innings, took responsibility for the loss. "These guys work their asses off all year to get to a position like today," he said. "We expect a lot out of each other. It's been great all year, but we just didn't play our brand of baseball and I know we can play better baseball than that and that starts with me on the mound. We've got to flush it and get ready for Wednesday."
Manager Aaron Boone echoed the sentiment, stressing the urgency of the situation. "An opportunity to do something great," Boone said. "But it starts one play, one inning at a time. We can't play like that and expect to win, so we've got to come out Wednesday night -- everything's on the line, it's obviously all hands on deck and we've got to try and get one and then go from there. We're capable of doing it. This team has been really good at picking themselves up all year. We've faced some really tough moments. Talked about them having a lot of grit -- they've had that all year. We need to find it right now."
Third baseman Ryan McMahon reinforced Boone's message as the team leaves Tropicana Field in an 0-2 hole. "It hasn't been won yet," McMahon said. "We'll see that. We'll regroup, respect the loss. Everybody here -- a little pissed off, a little upset, but we're where we're at, there's still some games left."
History is not on New York's side: no team has come back from an 0-2 deficit to win a best-of-five series since the Yankees themselves in the 2017 ALDS, when they lost the first two games to the Cleveland Guardians before winning three straight to advance to the ALCS.
Designated hitter Ben Rice, who provided the Yankees' only offense with two solo home runs on Monday, acknowledged the challenge ahead. "Definitely going to be a challenge," Rice said. "Going down 2-0 doesn't feel good. It's on us to find our way out of it."
Key Analysis
The Yankees' backs are against the wall as they return home for Game 3. With Max Fried set to start, the team must clean up its defensive miscues and capitalize on scoring opportunities to avoid elimination. The pressure is immense, but the Yankees have shown resilience all season and will need to draw on that grit to extend the series.
Originally reported by sny.