Yankees' bullpen hits Rays, gets hit right back

ST. PETERSBURG -- The Yankees have not won a series in more than a month, a streak that has understandably exhausted the patience of all involved. So when the benches cleared twice in the eighth inning Sunday at Tropicana Field, there were more ingredients to that cocktail of frustration than a few hit batters.

Albert Abreu sparked a fiery exchange with a fastball that drilled Randy Arozarena’s midsection, part of a meltdown by the Yankees’ bullpen, which flushed an early lead in a 7-4 loss to the Rays.

“He was saying, 'That's the second time you hit me!'” Abreu said through an interpreter. “But the reality is, I'm a sinkerball pitcher, and in that moment, I'm trying to execute my pitch. What I'm trying to create there is weak contact. That's what I'm looking for at that moment. So I'm definitely not trying to hit him.”

With four Rays hit by Yankees pitchers on Sunday, five in the series and 12 this season, Arozarena did not buy that explanation. The outfielder stole second and third base, after which he and Abreu jawed again. Arozarena soon scored on Brandon Lowe’s double, helping to send the Yanks to their 12th loss in 14 games.

“We're all frustrated because they hit us a lot,” Arozarena said through an interpreter. “The 95 mph pitches, they hurt. Anytime I get hit from here on out, it's going to bother me because it's something that I think just reoccurs too many times.”

“If they want to come over here,” said Yanks reliever Ian Hamilton, “they can come over here. I wish we had another game against them.”

Perhaps it’s for the best that they don’t. The Yankees have not won a series since their July 21-23 sweep of the Royals in New York. They have lost eight straight rubber games, faring 1-12-3 in the 16 series they have played since the beginning of July.

“We haven’t been very good,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Everything’s been a challenge, not just the rubber game.”

Boone and Rays manager Kevin Cash engaged in a spirited conversation during the first onfield fracas, which carried echoes of spats dating back the better part of a decade between these clubs.

“He’s telling me I’d be upset,” Boone said. “Again, the point is, it certainly wasn’t on purpose. But I understand. When our guys get hit, not on purpose, I don’t like it, either. Unfortunately, sometimes it happens in the game. Today [it] boiled over a little bit.”

The Abreu-Arozarena showdown transpired after Hamilton’s first pitch of the fifth inning drilled Isaac Paredes in the batting helmet, which Hamilton said was not intentional.

“I was trying to go in with a two-seam. It just kind of ran a little more,” Hamilton said. “When he was going up the line, I said, ‘My fault.’ That was my fault for starting that.”

Kyle Higashioka and DJ LeMahieu hit back-to-back homers in the third inning, and Anthony Volpe lifted a two-run shot in the fourth, all off Tampa Bay starter Zack Littell. LeMahieu’s homer was his third of the series, as the infielder has been swinging a hot bat since the All-Star break.

Carlos Rodón recovered from a shaky first inning to provide 4 2/3 innings of two-run ball, limited to an 84-pitch effort that Boone suggested “might have been the best four-inning stretch we’ve seen from him.”

In the first, Arozarena stole second, advanced to third on Higashioka’s error and scored on Harrison Bader’s errant throw -- all on the same play -- before Lowe followed with a solo home run that landed atop the stingray tank in right-center field.

“The bases were loaded and I gave up only two, so from there, I'm just like, ‘Let’s go,’” Rodón said. “'That’s behind me. Let’s move on and make pitches from now on, the rest of the game.'”

With Boone telling Rodón that his start was “something to build on,” Hamilton coughed up the lead in the sixth, when Harold Ramírez blooped a game-tying two-run single over second baseman Gleyber Torres.

Lowe then greeted left-hander Wandy Peralta with a go-ahead two-run hit. Boone rejected a suggestion that Sunday’s extracurriculars could help bond the roster for future games.

“That stuff is all great -- gets you riled up and gets you going, and it certainly can build some closeness, but it doesn't help you get hits and make plays,” Boone said. “That's what we have to do more consistently if we want to win games.”