NEW YORK -- The air-raid sirens and digitized flames that accompany each of Aroldis Chapman's Yankee Stadium entrances continue to celebrate the closer's hard-throwing reputation, but unlike in years past, hitters are learning to remain on guard for a hearty diet of sliders.

Chapman snapped several good ones to get within one strike of sealing a victory, but he went back to the well one too many times. Travis d'Arnaud smacked a go-ahead three-run homer, celebrating his record-setting third long ball of the game, as the Rays stunned the Yankees in a 5-4 defeat on Monday at Yankee Stadium.

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"All night, the slider had been working for me," Chapman said through a translator. "I was trying to surprise him with the slider, down and away. That one was a little higher than I wanted, and he took advantage of it."

Chapman was charged with his fourth blown save as the late rally wasted Edwin Encarnacion's first multihomer game in pinstripes. Tampa Bay is now within five games in the American League East, its smallest deficit since the end of play on June 24.

"It didn’t end the way we wanted, but they have a lot of guys that can make it tough on you," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. "We did a really good job tonight of making their pitchers earn everything. It looked like we were going to outlast them there, but it’s a really good team."

Chapman opened the ninth by permitting back-to-back hits to Kevin Kiermaier and Guillermo Heredia, then struck out the next two batters on sliders. Chapman got ahead of d'Arnaud 1-2, then saw the catcher foul off two pitches and watch two others go by out of the strike zone. The eighth pitch of the at-bat carried over Aaron Judge and landed in the right-field seats.

"The way he hit that ball, I thought we had a chance to catch it," Chapman said. "Not the case tonight."

Having earlier slugged a pair of solo homers off starter James Paxton, d’Arnaud became the first catcher to hit three home runs against the Yankees.

"I was just trying to get on base," d'Arnaud said. "I didn’t want to be too greedy with Chapman out there, he’s so good. I got lucky and put the ball in the air.”

The former Met’s heroics spoiled a banner evening for Encarnacion, who notched the 36th multihomer game of his career. Encarnacion took Blake Snell deep in the fourth inning, and after Gio Urshela tied the game with a seventh-inning shot off Emilio Pagan, Encarnacion gave the Yankees the lead with a two-run blast off Andrew Kittredge in the eighth.

From his vantage point at first base, Encarnacion said that he expected d'Arnaud's ninth-inning drive to land in Judge's glove.

"I didn't think he got it," Encarnacion said. "It wasn't my best game, because we lost. It's part of the game."

Boone has frequently opined that Chapman's increasing reliance on the slider will help his longevity, and it is a pitch that he has thrown more than ever this season. Including Monday, Chapman has gone to the slider 32.9 percent of the time. His previous career high was 25.4 percent, last season.

That shift coincides with Chapman's reduced fastball velocity, which has averaged 98.2 mph this season – still impressive, just not up to the triple-digit standards that the “Cuban Missile” showed years ago. Chapman's average fastball velocity has decreased in each of the last three seasons, dipping from 101.1 mph in 2016 to 100.0 mph in ‘17, then 98.9 mph in ‘18.

"It’s as much a factor for him as his fastball," Boone said. "It was just up and away and d’Arnaud put a good swing on it, but I had no issue with the pitch selection.”