Rays Made Yankees Pay for Every Mistake in Game 2

The Tampa Bay Rays have never been a team that needs to hit four home runs to win a baseball game. Thankfully, they have sluggers such as Junior Caminero and Liam Hicks to do it if needed. 

But that certainly wasn't the case on Monday night.

Tampa Bay beat the New York Yankees 5-2 in Game 2 of the American League Division Series, and the Rays did it by playing the same style of baseball that helped them win 98 games during the regular season.

Put the ball in play and make the other team make a play.

The Yankees couldn't do it.

New York committed four errors in the loss, and their defensive mistakes certainly gave Tampa Bay plenty of opportunities.

But Tampa Bay deserves some credit for creating them. Players such as Jonny DeLuca and Chandler Simpson are some of the fastest players in all of baseball, and when they put the ball on the ground, defenders don't have much time to make a decision, which often leads to errors. 

One bad throw or slight hesitation can completely change an inning, and we saw that throughout Game 2.

The Rays also did it against Cam Schlittler, who entered the game as one of the best pitchers in baseball and had just struck out 10 Red Sox hitters in the Wild Card round.

Tampa Bay only struck out twice against him Monday.

Schlittler didn't even make it through five innings. Some might blame Aaron Boone for keeping him in too long against the Red Sox team in the first round of the postseason, but that's just Rays baseball. 

The team finished the regular season with the lowest strikeout rate in baseball, and that approach becomes even more valuable when you're facing elite pitching in October.

You aren't always going to hit a home run against someone like Schlittler. The only two home runs hit in the game on Monday night were both from Ben Rice of the New York Yankees. 

But Richie Palacios eventually delivered the biggest hit. With the Rays leading 3-1 in the fifth inning, Palacios worked the count full before hitting a two-run single into center field that scored Simpson and DeLuca.

It was a huge moment for a Brooklyn kid doing it against the team he grew up rooting for. 

It was also exactly what Tampa Bay needed from someone outside of Junior Caminero, Yandy Díaz and Jonathan Aranda.

We've talked all season about who would deliver when one of the Rays' stars couldn't do it.

Monday night, it was Palacios. And now Tampa Bay has a 2-0 series lead and is one victory away from the ALCS.

 Finding a way to win by any means necessary will likely come into play on Wednesday night in Game 3, as Max Fried is one of the best pitchers in baseball. If the Rays want to complete the sweep, they'll have to find a way to get to him.