Yankees 3, Rays 2
NEW YORK -- Brett Gardner homered with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, giving the New York Yankees a dramatic 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday.
The Yankees scratched out two runs in the first eight innings but struggled to get much done with runners in scoring position.
New York quickly reached two out in the ninth but won the game when Gardner drove a 3-and-1 fastball from Erasmo Ramirez (3-1) into the second deck in right field.
As he approached home plate, Gardner tossed his helmet into the air and was met by his teammates, who mobbed him at home plate. While conducting the postgame interview, he was given a Gatorade shower to celebrate New York's second straight victory.
It was Gardner's second career walk-off home run and sixth walk-off hit. The last one was a home run off Detroit's Jose Veras on Aug. 11, 2013.
Before getting its first walk-off win of the season, New York's runs occurred when Carlos Beltran scored on a wild pitch by left-hander Blake Snell in the first and on an infield single by Brett Gardner with two out in the seventh on a ball deflected by reliever Xavier Cedeno.
Gardner's weak groundball single was set up by Jacoby Ellsbury reaching on catcher's interference for the third time this season.
Andrew Miller (1-0) got an inning-ending double play in the ninth and picked up the victory, doing so after Dellin Betances pitched a scoreless seventh.
Masahiro Tanaka allowed two runs and five hits in seven innings for New York.
Tampa Bay scored its runs off Tanaka when Corey Dickerson doubled in the fourth and Kevin Kiermaier homered in the sixth.
The Yankees tied it in the seventh when Gardner had an infield hit to score Jacoby Ellsbury, who reached base on catcher's interference.
Blake Snell of Tampa Bay allowed one run and two hits in five innings and was in line to become the first starting pitcher to win his major league debut in New York since Anibal Sanchez on June 25, 2006, for the Florida Marlins.
NOTES: New York OF Aaron Hicks was unavailable Saturday due to a sore left shoulder he injured trying to make a diving catch in the fourth inning Friday. Hicks will have an MRI and the Yankees likely won't know the results until after the game. ... The Rays optioned RHP Danny Farquhar to Triple-A Durham to make room for LHP Blake Snell. It is Tampa Bay's first transactions this season. By their 17th game last season, the Rays had made 22 moves and this is the deepest the team has gone into a season without a transaction since 2007. ... New York RHP Branden Pinder has a partial tear of his UCL and will decide in a few days to undergo Tommy John surgery or rehab the injury. Pinder was placed on the disabled list Friday and the original diagnosis was a strained right elbow.