Rays score four in the fifth and lead the Yankees 2-0 in the division series

The Tampa Bay Rays beat the New York Yankees 5-2 on Monday and lead the American League division series two games to none. Four of the five Tampa Bay runs came in the fifth inning. Eric Booser, 1-0, got the win. Cam Schlittler, 1-1, took the loss. Bryan Baker recorded his second save.

The line was New York 2 runs on 4 hits and 3 errors, Tampa Bay 5 runs on 8 hits and no errors. The Yankees scored once in the fourth and once in the eighth. Tampa Bay scored once in the first and four in the fifth. Ben Rice, the designated hitter, had both New York runs batted in. He went 2 for 3 with a walk and is hitting .467 in the series, with an on-base-plus-slugging of 1.889. The rest of the New York order did not drive anyone in.

Cody Bellinger had a hit in four at-bats. Austin Wells had a hit. Jazz Chisholm Jr., Jasson Dominguez is not the line here: Spencer Jones, Anthony Volpe's replacement in some cards, and the rest of the infield were quiet. Luis Garcia Jr. struck out twice. The three errors sat next to a four-hit night. A club that gives away three outs in the field and scores twice does not need a long explanation for a 5-2 loss.

Rice is the exception, and he is a large one. A .467 average and both runs batted in, in a game the Yankees lost, is the sort of line that gets buried if the series ends in four. It is also the reason New York was in the game until the fifth. After that inning the Rays had a lead a closer could hold, and Baker did.

Schlittler's loss is the pitching fact. He entered the series 1-1 and left it 1-1 on the loss column moving. Booser, a name that was not the season headline, has the win in a game that may decide who holds home advantage for the rest of the series. Game 3 is in New York on Wednesday. Tampa Bay can take a 3-0 lead there. New York has to win to bring the series back to a tied game.

The bracket context is the same one sitting on the other American League series. Chicago beat Cleveland 4-3 on Monday and also leads 2-0. Two division series have the same shape after two games: the club that was supposed to be answering questions is the one with the lead. The National League is split. Milwaukee leads San Diego 2-0. Los Angeles and Atlanta are tied 1-1, with Game 3 in Atlanta on Tuesday.

A 2-0 lead in a best-of-five is a probability, not a result. Teams have come back from it. They have not come back from it often when the next game is on the road and the losing side has committed three errors. The Yankees' path is a win on Wednesday, behind a starter who is not Schlittler if the club wants a different look, and a night when the order other than Rice puts a run on the board.

Baker's second save is the small number that says Tampa Bay is finishing. Booser's win is the small number that says the fifth inning had a pitcher who held. Rice's two runs batted in are the small number that says New York's night was one hitter. The series lead is the number that matters on Wednesday.