Oswaldo Cabrera hit a solo homer and Ben Rice had four hits and two RBIs as the visiting New York Yankees opened a four-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays with a 6-3 win on Thursday night.
Tim Hill (2-0) earned the victory with two scoreless innings of relief. Ian Hamilton followed with 1 2/3 innings before Devin Williams retired the Rays in order in the ninth for his fourth save. New York has won four straight and six of its last eight.
Junior Caminero hit a two-run homer and Richie Palacios had three hits in his season debut for Tampa Bay, which lost its third straight.
New York is the visitor for the series at its spring training home of George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa. The Rays are renting the stadium for the season with Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg left unplayable due to damage suffered during Hurricane Milton in October.
New York began the game with a run against Taj Bradley (2-1) on three straight singles, the last from Aaron Judge to score Paul Goldschmidt from third base.
Tampa Bay pulled even in the second inning when Palacios scored on Taylor Walls’ sacrifice fly. Yankees starter Will Warren then walked Kameron Misner to load the bases with two out and was replaced by Ryan Yarbrough, who struck out Brandon Lowe.
Caminero put the Rays ahead with a two-run homer in the third inning for his fifth long ball this season and fourth in his last six games.
The Yankees tied the game with two runs in the fifth inning. After Cabrera hit a leadoff homer, Goldschmidt singled and Rice doubled.
Judge walked to load the bases before Goldschmidt scored on Cody Bellinger’s groundout.
New York regained the lead with three runs in the sixth inning. With two runners on and no outs, Jazz Chisholm Jr. scored on Jasson Dominguez’s force out.
Manuel Rodriguez replaced Bradley with two runners on and allowed a run to score on Goldschmidt’s groundout. Rice followed with a run-scoring single.
Bradley allowed six runs on nine hits over 5 1/3 innings. He walked four and struck out three.