ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The ugliness to the tip of the Yankees’ season took one other rough turn in the underside of the primary inning Sunday against the Rays, as a comedy of errors led to a fast lead for Tampa Bay.
After Randy Arozarena led off the inning against Carlos Rodon with a single to left, Harold Ramirez popped out to second.
That’s when things quickly unraveled for the Yankees — after which Rodon.
Arozarena took off for second on an 0-1 pitch to Brandon Lowe and Kyle Higashioka airmailed the throw to center.
Arozarena got to his feet and headed toward third, where Harrison Bader’s throw bounced past Oswald Peraza after which scooted by Rodon, who was backing up the play.
The misadventure from the last-place Yankees allowed Arozarena to attain the sport’s first run.
Then, on Rodon’s next pitch, Lowe crushed a solo homer into the stingray tank beyond the fence in right-center at Tropicana Field.
With the Yankees down 2-0, Isaac Paredes followed with a single, Rodon hit Osleivis Basabe with a pitch and Luke Raley added one other base hit to load the bases with one out before Rodon righted himself by getting Jose Siri on a soft liner to short after which striking out Christian Bethancourt.
The Yankees then tied the sport and ultimately took the lead with three homers across the third and fourth innings — one from Higashioka, one from DJ LeMahieu after which a two-run blast from Anthony Volpe — to guide by two runs.
That inched them closer to winning their first series since July 21-23 against the Royals.