Amid trade talk, Carlos Beltran keeps belting

6:46 PM ET

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The likelihood that Carlos Beltran, who swings the most potent bat in the New York Yankees offense despite being 39, would be traded increased exponentially about 8:30 Sunday morning when the club decided to part ways with Andrew Miller, signaling the beginning of a full-scale sell-off.

With Miller gone less than a week after the Yankees had traded Aroldis Chapman, the Yankees were left with just one closer (Dellin Betances) rather than three, and really just one more attractive tradeable part on their big-league roster: Beltran, who leads the team with a .304 batting average, 22 home runs and 64 RBI.

And the odds that he would still be a Yankee by 4:01 p.m. Monday, when the non-waiver trading deadline passes, seemed to be slimmer than Ronald Torreyes.

So this is how Beltran handled all that pressure: He went out and collected two more hits, including a two-run home run that hastened the departure of Blake Snell, the tough young lefty who started for the Tampa Bay Rays, in the sixth inning.

With the trade deadline at hand, Sunday’s homer could be Carlos Beltran’s last one with the Yankees. Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports

Although Beltran’s blast closed the gap, temporarily, to 3-2, it was predictably not enough; the Rays added two more runs off Michael Pineda in the bottom of the sixth to win the game, 5-3, and complete a three-game sweep of the reeling pinstripes at Tropicana Field.

That loss, the fourth in a row for the Yankees after a deceptive run of eight wins in 10 games, all against good teams, also seemed to guarantee that the Yankees would be trade deadline sellers for the first time in the …

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