It seems like every time I turn around the Rays are playing the Yankees (no one point out the regularity with which divisional rivals play, I know, but it feels like 190 times a season, not 19). And with the Yankees maintaining a strong lead in the AL East, the games between these two clubs feels like they matter more than usual.
This time around it was a battle of the aces (it feels exceptionally strange to call Shane McClanahan the team’s “ace” but at this point I think he’s earned himself the label for 2022). The Yankees had Gerrit Cole.