Homers help Rays stall Yankees’ playoff chase

NEW YORK — The Yankees’ run at an American League postseason spot stalled on Sunday, at least for a day. Tampa Bay homered three times to snap New York’s seven-game win streak with a 4-2 victory in the Bronx in front of 33,087 at Yankee Stadium.

Corey Dickerson opened the scoring with a two-run homer in the second, and Logan Forsythe and Brad Miller added solo shots in the sixth off Luis Cessa, who suffered his first Major League loss.

The runs were enough for Rays starter Matt Andriese, who scattered six hits over five innings, wiggling out of jams in the first and fifth to record his seventh win. The lone run he allowed came courtesy of Chase Headley’s solo homer in the fifth.

From there, three Rays relievers — highlighted by the season debut of former Yankee Chase Whitley — held the Yankees largely in check the rest of the way. Whitley tossed two innings in his return from Tommy John surgery for a Rays team that could play a significant spoiler role in the season’s final weeks. Twelve of Tampa Bay’s final 19 games come against division opponents, all fighting for postseason spots in a jam-packed AL East.

It was a day to commemorate 15 years since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. Before the game, Yankees manager Joe Girardi and reliever Dellin Betances laid a wreath at the 9/11 Memorial in Monument Park. An American flag was sprawled across the outfield for a pregame ceremony that included FDNY firefighter Frank Pizzaro’s rendition of the national anthem.

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