Cam deals, Stanton delivers: Yankees beat the Rays 6-4 in extras to complete the sweep

Tampa—The Yankees beat the Rays 6-4 in a nail-biter to complete the sweep and extend their win streak to five games. Cam Schlittler got the starting nod for the Yankees and faced off against Drew Rasmussen, one of the best pitchers in the AL this year. 

Trent Grisham led off the ballgame with a solo home run, his 22nd of the year, to quickly give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. 

In the bottom of the first inning, Cam worked an easy 1-2-3 inning on just 11 pitches and picked up his first strikeout of the ballgame. 

Cam retired the Rays in order in the bottom of the third inning and recorded his third strikeout of the night as the Rays have gone nine up nine down to start the ballgame. 

Cody Bellinger led off the top of the fourth inning with a single up the middle, then immediately stole second base. Belli was then thrown out attempting to tag up on a flyout to right field off the bat of Jazz Chisholm Jr.

With one out in the top of the fifth inning, Austin Wells, who has been slumping as of late, launched a much-needed home run, his 16th of the year and first since July 25, to make it a 2-0 game. 

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Cam worked another 1-2-3 inning and picked up his fifth strikeout of the ballgame, as Cam is perfect through five. 

Cam retired the Rays in order in the bottom of the sixth inning as the Rays have gone 18 up 18 down. 

Chandler Simpson singled up the middle to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning to put an end to Cam's perfect game and no-hit bid. Cam walked a batter, then picked up a huge strikeout on the All-Star Junior Caminero, then walked another batter to load the bases with two outs. Luke Weaver replaced Cam, who left to a well-deserved standing ovation in a bases-loaded jam, and picked up a huge strikeout to strand the bases loaded and keep it a 2-0 game. 

Cam Schlittler's final line: 6.2 innings pitched, one hit allowed, zero earned runs, two walks, 17 swings and misses, and a career high eight strikeouts on 95 pitches. Cam threw his fastball 66% of the time, the curveball 19%, the cutter 12%, and the sinker 3% of the time. Cam was unbelievable tonight, hands down the best start of his young career, taking a perfect game into the seventh inning. He also completely eliminated the slider tonight, and his curveball looked unhittable. 

"What I've been working on the last five weeks or so is just like getting the fastball down, being able to play with my off-speed off that, just get in the zone and get ahead and attack," Cam said. "So I think being able to do that just puts me in a position to help the team win." 

With one out on the top of the eighth inning, Grisham launched his second home run of the night and 23rd of the year to make it a 3-0 game. 

Weaver remained in the game for the bottom of the eighth and served up a solo home run to Bob Seymour, the first of his career, to make it a 3-1 game. 

In the bottom of the ninth inning, the Yankees' closer, David Bednar, was called up to replace Weaver and walked a batter and gave up a single. Then, with two outs and two strikes, Bednar served up a game-tying RBI double to Hunter Feduccia to make it a 3-3 game. Bednar did pick up a strikeout to keep it a tie game and send it to extra innings. 

In the top of the 10th inning Giancarlo Stanton launched a pinch-hit go-ahead two-run bomb to give the Yankees a 5-3 lead.

"Just be on time. He throws dynamite, throws 100," Stanton said on his approach against Pete Fairbanks. "And had to at least get a Volpe over third. So just be in time, get the ball in the air like always." 

In the top of the 10th inning Giancarlo Stanton launched a pinch-hit go-ahead two-run bomb to give the Yankees a 5-3 lead. The next batter, Wells, crushed his second home run of the night and 17th of the year to make it back-to-back bombs and a 6-3 ballgame. José Caballero, who pinch ran earlier, reached on an E4, then was caught stealing, and it was not overturned after the Yankees challenged. Caballero lost it, leading to his first career ejection. 

"I don't really know. I mean, I was really, I mean, I wasn't happy about the call," Caballero said on his ejection. "I was like, there's no way you can see that I came off the back in motion. I don't see that, like how can you see that in real time?"

Devin Williams replaced Bednar in the bottom of the 10th inning and immediately served up an RBI single to Seymour to make it a 6-4 game. Then a double put the tying run at second base with nobody out. However, Williams locked in and picked up three straight strikeouts to strand the tying run on second base and end this one 6-4 and complete the sweep. 

"Yeah, most important to get the win," Stanton said. "You know, it's not always going to go smooth. I mean, it was going really smooth for us for seven innings and, you know, that's baseball. So yeah, we were able to get it done."

The Yankees will now head back to the Bronx to take on the Red Sox in a massive four-game series. Luis Gil will get the starting nod for the Yankees, facing off against Lucas Giolito. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. ET on FOX. 

My thoughts on the game: what a start from Cam, as he looked unhittable for six innings tonight, easily the best start of his career. Stanton, with a huge home run in extra innings to continue his hot hitting with a .311 average, 1.031 OPS, and a 182 wRC+, and might be one of the most clutch Yankees of all time. Wells also had a huge game with two bombs; hopefully, that can get him going with the Red Sox coming to town. Grisham also hit two home runs as his career year continues. The bullpen wasn't great tonight as Weaver served up a home run and Bednar blew the save in the ninth. Then Williams did what he does best and gave all Yankees fans a heart attack, but settled in to pick up his first save since July 29. The Blue Jays also lost today, so all of a sudden, the Yankees are only four games back in the AL East. The Yankees tied an MLB record with 14 home runs in a two-game stretch. On to tomorrow, as the Yankees have to find a way to split this series with the Red Sox. 

 "Awesome. Well, I think we're familiar with the dimensions of this park," Stanton said when he was asked about the Yankees hitting 14 home runs in two games. "So that helps, and being here all spring. So, you know, it's just good for us. And you always want to get out of here with a series sweep and into a flight."