Yankees erase a four-run deficit to beat the Rays in final regular season rumble

After sleepwalking through the first five innings, the Yankees' offense turned it on in the second half of this game, scoring six unanswered runs, led by an impressive display of athleticism and power from their shortstop—Lombard doubled, homered, secured three RBI, and performed the slide of the season to score a run in the seventh.

Before the exciting comeback, though, this game revolved around Cam Schlittler , who came into it leaning even more heavily on the four-seamer than usual. The first four pitches that Rays leadoff hitter Yandy Díaz saw were all four-seamers and in line with what we'd get in this game; he fouled off the first three. A flurry of foul balls led the Yankees to ultimately pull Schlittler after just three innings—three stressful innings with a surprising 70 pitches, more than enough for Aaron Boone to exercise caution.

Pitching, among other things, to keep his ERA under 2.00, quite literally the achievement of a lifetime, Schlittler ran into his first problem in the second. With two on and one out after a bloop single, the future AL Cy Young Award winner threw his own caution to the wind and threw three consecutive heaters all down the pipe to Ryan Vilade , who swung through a pair after letting the first one go by. Even poorly located Schlittler heaters can easily bully some hitters, and that's precisely what was on display.