Rays bounce back from rough weekend, beat struggling Yankees

ST. PETERSBURG — The Rays took a good first step Tuesday in what could be either a 16-game march or stumble to the July 30 trade deadline, beating the struggling Yankees 5-3.

Newly anointed All-Star Isaac Paredes led the way with a three-run home run in the first. Ryan Pepiot delivered a strong start, working into the sixth while striking out seven, and relievers Jason Adam and Pete Fairbanks got the final six outs.

Having lost their five-series winning streak and the momentum from it during a weekend sweep in Texas, baseball operations president Erik Neander made it clear that how the Rays respond over the next 2½ weeks could determine the level — and direction — of activity at the deadline.

The fact he was talking shortly after trading Phil Maton, the second veteran pitcher with a high salary and limited results dealt in the last week, added to the significance of the challenge.

“Tough series in Texas,” Neander said. “Prior to that, felt like we really had things turned in the direction where you’re playing a more athletic style of baseball with hits in the right spots, great defense, pitchers keeping the ball in the park, hitters hitting the ball out of the park the way we expect, much more of the way we thought this team would be.

“The Texas series hopefully was a blip on us getting this thing turned around. … There’s an urgency to every day for the last few months now like, truly, just trying to make each day count, let the work count and get us to where we believe this team can and should be. So that’s our focus for now, with a bit of a distraction for a draft here coming up.

“We’re keeping our attention on trying to get this club to be as good as it can be for right now. And we’ll see where we are in a few weeks.”

Pepiot allowed a run in the first on a couple of two-out hits, but then his mates jumped quickly on a struggling Yankees squad that has a majors-worst 5-16 record since June 15, and starter Carlos Rodon.

Yandy Diaz led off with a single, then Randy Arozarena laced a double to left, with Diaz scoring on Alex Verdugo’s misplay. Amed Rosario singled and Paredes, who was named to the All-Star team on Sunday, followed with a three-run homer, his team-leading 15th of the season and 68th of his career, all of which have been to leftfield.

Pepiot did well keeping the score 4-1, and made good use of his changeup, getting 13 of his 17 outs with it.

The Yankees closed to within 4-3 in the seventh, as Kevin Kelly allowed a leadoff single then, after a fielder’s-choice ground out, Colin Poche came in and allowed a left-on-left homer to rookie Ben Rice. The Rays added a run in the eighth when Jose Siri singled and raced home from first on Jonny DeLuca’s hit to rightfield, then made a running catch in deep centerfield for the final out.

The Rays improved to 45-46 and remained in a group of four teams within 5½ games of the last American League wild-card spot, currently held by Boston.

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