NEW YORK – So much for all the script-flipping the Rays supposedly did in Monday’s dramatic come-from-ahead-and-then-behind win over the Yankees.
Because Tuesday was back to the same old story where the Rays took a lead into the late innings and then watched it painfully slip away.
The final was 8-3 Yankees, and the result that the Rays dropped to 56-41 and back to six games behind the AL East leaders.
But the damage could be much worse, because whatever confidence the Rays felt they gained on Monday, and whatever demons they vanquished, were negated.
The Rays led 4-3 going to the eighth when rookie reliever Colin Poche made the first mistake of walking leadoff man Gleyber Torres, then the grander of giving up a two-run homer to Aaron Judge on a full-count fastball.