ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — As a kid, Richie Palacios was one of the biggest Yankees fans in Brooklyn.
After his Monday night heroics, his childhood favorites go into Wednesday’s Game 3 at Yankee Stadium in a huge playoff hole.
Palacios laced a two-run single to cap a four-run fifth inning that propelled the Tampa Bay Rays to a 5-2 victory and a 2-0 lead over the sloppy Yankees in their best-of-five AL Division Series.
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“When I’m getting clutch hits, it doesn’t really matter who I’m playing against,” Palacios said. “But it’s very special to do this in a postseason against a team I grew up watching.”
The 29-year-old second baseman, who also doubled off Gerrit Cole in the series opener, came to bat with two outs in the fifth against left-handed reliever Brent Headrick.
With his parents in the stands and runners on second and third, Palacios got a green light from manager Kevin Cash on a 3-0 count and fouled off a 90 mph fastball. The left-handed hitter then fouled off three more pitches before lining a base hit to center field that gave Tampa Bay a 5-1 cushion.
“Probably the biggest hit in the game for us,” Cash said.
A fired-up Palacios gestured toward his teammates in the dugout as he celebrated at first base.
“If I got a green light with a 3-0,” Palacios said, “that means Cashy probably wants me swinging if it’s a pitch over the plate. Swung at one, missed it, and then just locked back in. Was able to relax myself and get a hit there.”
The small-ball Rays chased Cam Schlittler, the likely AL Cy Young Award winner, in the fifth aided by New York’s defensive miscues.
Schlittler, who was 14-6 with a 1.95 ERA and dominated Boston in the opener of the wild-card round, lasted 4 1/3 innings. He allowed four runs — two earned — and six hits while striking out only two.
A sellout crowd of 40,226 of cowbell-ringing Rays fans reveled in New York’s misery.
The Yankees made three errors in the first inning but Schlittler limited the Rays to one run. New York became the first team to commit three errors in the first inning of a postseason game since the Oakland Athletics in Game 1 of the 1975 AL Championship Series against Boston, according to Sportsnet Stats.
Game 3 will be a homecoming of sorts for Palacios, who is playing in his first postseason. Palacios attended The Berkeley Carroll School in the New York City borough of Brooklyn and then Towson University in Maryland before getting selected by Cleveland in the third round of the 2018 amateur draft.
He was acquired by the St. Louis Cardinals for cash in June 2023 and then traded to Tampa Bay for reliever Andrew Kittredge in January 2024.
The 5-foot-8 Palacios batted .235 with 10 home runs, 57 RBIs and a .704 OPS in 124 games this season. He also stole 17 bases, and rewarded the AL East champion Rays for their confidence in him by hitting .283 with five homers, 18 RBIs, six steals and a .981 OPS over 20 games in September.
“Look, we’re seeing a healthy player. We’ve seen Richie in the past when, before his knee injuries, where he could really help us on both sides of the ball. There’s a lot of versatility there with outfield, infield. Really stayed in the infield throughout the course of this season,” Cash said.
“But, I mean, he seems as much as anybody in our lineup to really rise to the occasion when we need him to come through. He’s come through so many times for us.”
Off the catwalk: Yankees rookie Spencer Jones hit a towering flyball off a catwalk at quirky Tropicana Field that was caught by Mesa for an out in the second inning. Jones kept running around the bases as the ball rattled around and fell to Mesa, who ran over from right field to make the catch in center. DeLuca thought he was camped under it in center but started pointing upward when the ball hit one of the two rings high above the field and below the roof. Mesa caught it several feet in front of DeLuca. Umpires conferred and confirmed the out, per the stadium’s ground rules.
Up next: Yankees LHP Max Fried (5-5, 2.80 ERA) and Rays RHP Nick Martinez (15-6, 3.10) are the projected starters for Game 3.
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