Trent Grisham drove in two runs to lift the New York Yankees to a 2-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Grisham had an RBI double in the second inning, a sacrifice fly in the fourth and chased down a line drive to right-center field to end the eighth.
Juan Soto had two of the six hits for the Yankees, who posted just their fifth win in their last 19 games.
Tim Hill (3-0) relieved starter Marcus Stroman in the fifth inning and worked out of a bases-loaded jam after striking out Josh Lowe and inducing Randy Arozarena to fly out to right field. He picked up the win after allowing two hits and striking out two batters in one inning of work.
Tampa Bay’s Ben Rortvedt collected two hits and scored on a fielder’s choice in the fifth inning.
Brandon Lowe and Taylor Walls also had two hits for the Rays, who went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position en route to losing for the fourth time in their last five games.
Luke Weaver and Tommy Kahnle bridged the gap to Clay Holmes, who induced Yandy Diaz to line out to Grisham to end the eighth inning. Holmes struck out two batters in the ninth inning to secure his 20th save of the season.
Grisham played a significant role in staking New York to an early 2-0 lead.
Anthony Volpe had a one-out single in the second inning and came around to score on Grisham’s double off Zach Eflin (5-6). Grisham’s blast caromed off the top of the left-field wall.
Grisham doubled the advantage in the fourth with a sacrifice fly to left field to plate Torres. Torres led off the inning with a walk, advanced to second on a groundout and third after first baseman Diaz’s throw sailed into left field.
Tampa Bay halved the deficit in the fifth inning. Rortvedt singled to lead off the inning, advanced to third on Walls’ single and scored on Diaz’s grounder to third base.
Eflin took the loss despite allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits while striking out six on a season-high 103 pitches.