Restocked Rays beat Yankees, cut AL East lead to 3.5 games

NEW YORK — With all due respect to the still-injured Roman Quinn, Wander Franco was the last key piece to rejoin the Rays lineup.

Brandon Lowe, Manuel Margot, Francisco Mejia and Harold Ramirez had all recently made it back from injuries, and with Franco activated Friday, the Rays were about as whole as they have been since May.

“This team has played really, really well this season,” manager Kevin Cash said. “Getting these guys back, you’ve got to think there’s that much more potential in what they’re capable of.”

And at a pretty prime time.

Franco made a smashing return with three hits, and the red-hot Rays further closed the gap on the floundering Yankees with a 4-2 win that cut their once robust American League East lead to 3½ games.

Better for the Rays (77-58), who on July 10 were in third place and 15½ games back, they are just two games behind the 83-56 Yankees in the loss column.

The Rays have won four straight, nine of 10, 20 of 25 and an AL-best 24 of 34 since the start of August.

They haven’t been this close to first since May 9, when they were three games back.

That was also when they last had this many of their key hitters together in the lineup. “Yeah, that’s too long,” Cash said.

Especially given the potential, with Franco back, to be diverse and dynamic.

“When you have a guy like him in the lineup, he makes a lot of contact, and when he does that, he gets on base a lot,” Randy Arozarena, who also had three hits, said via team interpreter Manny Navarro.

“So that helps the rest of the lineup be a little bit more confident when you have to bat.”

The offense wasn’t the only highlight Friday night as new dad Drew Rasmussen delivered a strong start, striking out a career-high 10 over six shutout innings.

“I guess lack of sleep apparently leads to good results,” he said.

Rasmussen was slated to start Tuesday, but those plans were foiled when his wife, Stevie, went into labor early that morning and around 4:30 gave birth to their son, Rhett.

That gave Rasmussen reason to call it, flatly, “the greatest week of my life.”

That he went out and continued what has been a career-best stretch. “A really impressive run,” Cash said.

After winning AL Pitcher of the Month for his six starts in August, he is now 4-1, 1.34 over his past seven. A longer view, he is 5-1, 1.81 over his past 12.

“This game is so special and things are going so well in my life right now that I just couldn’t be more happy,” Rasmussen said.

With Yankee Stadium sold out and rocking due to a pregame Derek Jeter tribute, the Rays came out swinging against starter Frankie Montas and took a quick lead — on three pitches. Yandy Diaz saw one and popped out. Franco, in his first game since his July 9 right hamate fracture, saw one and doubled. And Arozarena did the same.

A two-out single by Diaz in the fourth and some messy defense by Yankees leftfielder Aaron Hicks that led to run-scoring doubles by Franco and Arozarena made it 4-0. Reliever Jalen Beeks gave up a run in the seventh, and JT Chargois — pitching with top high-leverage options Jason Adam and Pete Fairbanks getting a night off — allowed one in the ninth before Shawn Armstrong finished.

The Rays have won five of their past seven against the Yankees, who have done their part to make this a race by going 22-33 since July 8.

And the Rays feel like they are peaking.

“Where our lineup is at right now is great. We’re hitting our stride kind of at the right time,” Rasmussen said.

“We have a lot of good pieces back who have really provided depth and provided sparks in our clubhouse, and just the way we’re trending right now, things are looking really good.”

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