Rays defeat Yankees despite their former ROY finalist shutting down their offense

It's been a rollercoaster of a season for the Rays in 2025, but one thing has remained pretty constant: losing to the New York Yankees. Going into the Saturday contest in the Bronx, Tampa Bay was a miserable 1-5 against the division rivals. However, after a late scratch from Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt, a familiar face would being toeing the rubber for the club in pinstripes.

Ryan Yarbrough got the start today after his teammate was removed from the job with soreness in his left side. Rays fans should remember their former left-handed workhorse. In five seasons with the Rays, the Austin, Texas native collected 40 wins and 467 strikeouts. He completed three different seasons with over 100 innings pitched while representing the Rays franchise.

In the lefty's best campaign, he went 16-6 with a 3.91 ERA and finished in fifth place in Rookie of the Year voting. It was a difficult year for rookies that aspired to claim the precious award as Shohei Ohtani won the hardware with his .285 AVG and 22 home runs in just over 100 games. Nonetheless, it was an honor for Yarbrough to be recognized among incredible talent and he would run with this success throughout his Rays tenure.

At first sight, you could guess that the Rays would've been thrilled to face a pitcher that they knew so much about, but at second glance we see a glaring issue. Tampa Bay hitters were second worst in the entire MLB with a .187 AVG against left-handed pitchers. Only the Baltimore Orioles have a worse average against lefties as their uncharacteristically awful offensive season continues. It would be interesting to see how the Rays would fair against their former teammate.

In the end, the Rays got the last laugh with a 3-2 victory in New York, but Yarbrough did a nearly perfect job with a one-hit no decision. The 33-year old hurler tossed four innings, giving up one earned run and punching out Christopher Morel twice. His one downfall was the three walks he allowed which was abnormal for the high-level command pitcher. Two of the free passes helped the Rays score their first run in the top of the second inning.

Despite this unexpected showing, Curtis Mead's clutch single and an error from Anthony Volpe gave the Rays their second win over the first place Yankees. The rubber match will be played tomorrow afternoon with Taj Bradley opposing rookie starter Will Warren.