ST. PETERSBURG -- The Rays had the Yankees on the ropes this weekend, winning Friday and Saturday night to reduce New York’s lead in the American League East to only four games. But Tampa Bay couldn’t land another staggering blow in Sunday’s series finale at Tropicana Field.

The Rays rallied late and threatened to erase the Yankees’ two-run lead in the ninth inning, bringing Yandy Díaz -- their most consistent hitter this season -- to the plate with a pair of runners in scoring position. But Díaz took a 101.7 mph sinker from Clay Holmes that appeared to be just below the strike zone, only to be rung up by home-plate umpire Vic Carapazza, and Tampa Bay sustained a frustrating 2-1 defeat that restored New York’s division lead to five games.

The loss snapped the Rays’ five-game winning streak, although they have put themselves in a good spot by winning 20 of their last 30 games since the start of August, including two of three against the Yankees this weekend. As frustrating as it may have been to not finish the sweep, the Rays believe the rest of the weekend was a reminder they can compete with anyone.

“[It would have] been nice to win all three, but they battled and they played good baseball,” outfielder Manuel Margot said through interpreter Manny Navarro. “Not just against them, but everybody else knows that we've been playing really good baseball this year and we're here to play.”

The Rays didn’t trail at any point during their five-game winning streak, but that changed immediately Sunday before a sold-out crowd of 25,025. Aaron Judge unloaded on opener Shawn Armstrong’s second pitch of the game, launching his 53rd home run of the season out to left field.

That was all Armstrong gave up in his three-inning appearance, though, and lefty Ryan Yarbrough followed with 2 2/3 scoreless innings. But the Rays couldn’t get anything going against Yankees right-hander Frankie Montas, who looked a lot more like Oakland’s former ace than the struggling starter with a 7.01 ERA in his first five starts with New York.

The momentum seemed to be squarely in the Yankees’ favor as they tacked on another run and the Rays left the bases loaded in the seventh.

“We pitched well. They pitched well,” manager Kevin Cash said. “They got some big hits, and our hits just came a little too late.”

But the Rays gave themselves a chance in the ninth inning and ultimately left the ballpark feeling like their final opportunity was taken from them.

David Peralta began the bottom of ninth with a double off Holmes and scored on Francisco Mejía’s pinch-hit single to left field. Rookie Jonathan Aranda sliced a two-out double to left, putting a pair of runners in scoring position for Díaz, who drove in both runs in the Rays’ 2-0 victory on Saturday.

Díaz is renowned for his plate discipline. Superstar Juan Soto is the only qualified hitter in the Majors with a better walk-to-strikeout ratio this season. A recent survey of MLB managers, coaches and executives in Baseball America ranked Díaz as having the AL’s best strike-zone judgment.

So Díaz took five straight pitches from Holmes to begin the at-bat, working the count full. He took the sixth pitch, too, the hardest sinker Holmes has ever thrown in the Majors. The pitch looked low, but Carapazza called it a strike. As the Yankees celebrated, Díaz displayed his disagreement and slammed his helmet off the Tropicana Field turf.

That told the Rays all they needed to know about the call.

“If there's anybody in here that I trust to tell me if a pitch was a ball or strike, it'd be him,” shortstop Taylor Walls said. “So if he took it and he reacted that way, then I trust that it probably wasn't in the zone.”

“You don't have to go back to the video,” Margot said through Navarro. “Just look at his reaction.”

The way Sunday’s game ended only made it feel like more of a missed opportunity, as the Rays could have further closed the gap between them and the Yankees leading up to their final meeting of the season next weekend at Yankee Stadium. But they’ve still won 16 of their last 21 games, with four of their five losses during that stretch coming by one run, and they didn’t stray from their day-to-day focus even after Sunday’s loss.

“If we can win series,” Cash said, “we're going to find ourselves in a really good spot.”