Aaron Boone didn’t sugarcoat the situation after the Yankees dropped Game 2 of the ALDS, 5-2, to the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday night. Down 2-0 in the best-of-five series, New York now has to win Wednesday at Yankee Stadium just to stay alive.
Boone said the Yankees can’t expect much help from the Rays’ pitchers, who have given up only two runs through the first two games. SNY Yankees posted his explanation on X, formerly Twitter, and Boone laid out the challenge for his offense this way:
“This is not a team that gives you a lot of free passes. They’re as good as anyone in the sport at limiting walks.
So, you know, you’ve got to do it in different ways. Whatever presents itself.”
That has been the story of the series so far. New York has only five hits over the first two games, and Ben Rice has accounted for both of the team’s runs with solo home runs in Game 2. Tampa Bay opened the series with a 1-0 win after Drew Rasmussen took a no-hitter into the eighth inning.
"Whatever it takes, we've got to do it offensively and we've gotta be able to score some runs and do a better job of preventing than we did tonight"
— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) October 6, 2026
- Aaron Boone pic.twitter.com/Em8KyRYQLC
The Yankees also hurt themselves badly in Monday’s loss. They made four errors, three of them in the first inning, and three of Tampa Bay’s five runs were unearned. Richie Palacios finished off a four-run fifth with a two-run single after George Lombard Jr.’s throwing error kept the inning going.
New York will hand the ball to left-hander Max Fried in Game 3, with Carlos Rodon lined up for Game 4 if the series gets that far. History isn’t on the Yankees’ side: teams that have gone up 2-0 in a best-of-five series have advanced 83 times in 93 chances, an 89.2% clip.
So the path is clear. The Yankees need three straight wins to reach the ALCS, starting with Game 3 on Wednesday night in the Bronx.
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