Rays' rally spoils Yankees' bullpen game after Aaron Judge, Austin Wells homers

Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News on May 3, 2025

Published in Baseball

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NEW YORK — Austin Wells had given the Yankees something to sink their teeth into.

Hours after the catcher debuted his new signature burrito at select Yankee Stadium concession stands, Wells slugged a go-ahead home run in the fifth inning of Saturday’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays.

But the Rays did just enough to spoil the afternoon.

The Yankees suffered a 3-2 loss after the Rays delivered a come-from-behind two-run rally in the top of the eighth.

The Yankees led 2-1 going into the eighth inning, but reliever Mark Leiter Jr. surrendered a leadoff single to Christopher Morel. Pinch-runner Chandler Simpson stole second base and Leiter walked Brandon Lowe.

Simpson and Lowe then pulled off a double steal, putting two runners in scoring position with no outs.

Leiter struck out Junior Caminero, but with the infield in, Curtis Mead poked a 79.7 mph RBI single into left field, tying the game, 2-2.

José Caballero then grounded up the middle, but as shortstop Anthony Volpe attempted to turn an unassisted double play, he booted the ball, allowing Lowe to score to give Tampa a 3-2 lead.

The three stolen bases in that inning were part of a six-steal day for the Rays.

The Yankees had a chance to answer in the bottom of the eighth, but with runners on the corners and two outs, Aaron Judge grounded out to short to extinguish the scoring threat.

Judge had homered in the first inning — his 11th of the season — against Rays starter Zack Littell to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead.

The score was tied, 1-1, in the bottom of the fifth, when Wells pulled a 3-2 slider from into the right-field seats to put the Yankees back up, 2-1.

The 384-foot blast was the sixth home run of the season for Wells.

Last month, Wells introduced an Instagram account on which he reviews the breakfast burritos served in opposing clubhouses. That account — @wells.ranked.burritos — boasts more than 80,000 followers.

But Saturday took Wells’ connoisseurship one step further.

Yankee Stadium began selling “The Wells Favurrito,” a breakfast burrito handpicked by Wells that contains eggs, sausage, Maple City fries, cheddar jack cheese and chipotle aioli. The burrito will be available only at day games in sections 110, 217 and 321.

Clarke Schmidt had been scheduled to pitch Saturday, but the Yankees pushed the right-hander’s start to Tuesday after he experienced soreness on his left side. An MRI came back clean.

Left-handed long reliever Ryan Yarbrough started in Schmidt’s place and held the Rays to one run over four innings.

Yarbrough limited Tampa to one hit, but he issued three walks, including a pair in the second inning. One of those walks — to Curtis Mead — turned into a run when Taylor Walls lifted a one-out sacrifice fly to center field with the bases loaded.

But Yarbrough escaped further damage when he fielded a broken-bat comebacker by Yandy Diaz — and dodged the hurtling barrel — for the final out.

Yarbrough, who spent his first five MLB seasons with the Rays from 2018-22, recorded two strikeouts and threw 64 pitches.

It was Yarbrough’s ninth appearance and first start with the Yankees, whom he signed with during the final week of spring training. He lowered his ERA to 3.72.

Ian Hamilton pitched a scoreless inning, while Fernandez Cruz fired two shutout frames. But the Rays got to Leiter for two runs in one-third of an inning to even the three-game series at one win apiece.

Volpe appeared to injure his left shoulder when he dove for Morel’s eighth-inning single, but after a lengthy on-field delay, the shortstop remained in the game.

Judge finished 2 for 4 and is now hitting an MLB-best .432.

The Yankees go for a series victory on Sunday afternoon, with Will Warren (1-1, 5.63 ERA) scheduled to match up against the Rays’ Taj Bradley (2-2, 4.58 ERA).

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