Jose Caballero came back to his old home park and made sure the Yankees left with the kind of win that sticks in a clubhouse: loud, efficient, and powered by a pair of no-doubt homers in a 5-1 victory over the Rays.
Caballero, whose last name translates to “gentleman” in Spanish, played anything but that role against his former team. He accounted for two of New York’s three hits on the night, and both traveled the same way - out of the yard and into the crowd.
For most of the game, though, this looked like the pitcher’s duel that had been expected after that dreadful Saturday evening loss. Hunter Brown and Drew Rasmussen were locked in through the first four innings, and both were missing bats at a high clip. The Rays’ only hit in that stretch came on a Jonny DeLuca flyball that dropped into no-man’s land down the right field line.
Then the fifth inning arrived and the game flipped.
Griffin Jax opened the frame by striking out Cody Bellinger on four pitches, finishing him with a swinging strike on a sweeper. After that, Jasson Dominguez drew a six-pitch walk, with four pitches nowhere near the strike zone, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. followed with a five-pitch walk of his own, again with four pitches well out of the zone. The Yankees lead the American League in walks for a reason, and those two free passes put Caballero in position to do damage.
Jax got ahead with an ABS-assisted strike before Caballero laid off two sweepers away. A foul ball off a sinker down and in evened the count, and then Caballero took a fastball on the edge. Jax and Nick Fortes then went to a changeup, and Caballero turned it into a homer.
That was the only pitch in Jax’s 31-pitch inning that was put in play, and the inning left him staring into the distance while the game slipped away. He still finished with 10 strikeouts and 16 swings and misses over 81 pitches, but those three straight plate appearances changed everything.
Cam Schlittler made sure the Rays never found a way back. He overpowered Tampa Bay’s lineup, striking out eight, walking none, and allowing four singles. His night was defined by the way he handled Jonathan Aranda, who he retired all three times they met.
The Rays’ pitching staff did plenty to keep them in it. Tampa Bay pitchers struck out 17 Yankees, walked two, and didn’t allow a single double or triple. But New York needed only three hits to win it: Caballero’s two homers and Ben Rice’s solo shot in the ninth.
According to StatHead, the Rays are the first team ever to lose a game like this after a search for a comparable one came up empty. They are also the third team this season to lose while striking out 17 or more opposing batters, joining the Mariners on 5/2/26 and the Red Sox on 4/23/26. The last team to win without a single, double, or triple was the Dodgers on July 29th, 2023, when they beat the Reds 3-2 behind two homers and three walks.
For Tampa Bay, it was the kind of frustrating loss that feels hard to swallow because the pitching did so much right. Over 27 plate appearances, the Rays were sharp.
Offensively, though, they never answered the key moments, aside from the run in the fifth. Their top four hitters went 0 for 16 with seven strikeouts, and that was too much to overcome.
They’ll get another shot tomorrow against Will Warren and a well-rested bullpen.
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