ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Ryan Yarbrough went into the sixth inning Thursday night with a no-hitter. Four batters later, he was out of the game.
That was how quickly things turned, and turned out badly, for his Rays.
The Yankees quickly grabbed a three-run lead and went on to a 7-2 win in the first meeting of the season between the top teams in the American League East, before an announced 14,610 at Tropicana Field.
Yarbrough contributed to his demise, hitting the first batter of the sixth, Matt Carpenter. He then allowed his first hit, a single by Marwin Gonzalez, then another, as Aaron Judge grounded a ball up the middle, scoring a run.
Yarbrough got Anthony Rizzo to fly out, with Gonzalez moving up to third, then was taken out.
Reliever Ryan Thompson got one out, though Judge stole second.
That mattered as Miguel Andujar drilled a grounder in the hole that shortstop Taylor Walls went down to glove but slipped getting up and bounced a throw to first that Harold Ramirez couldn’t handle, allowing both runs to score.
The Yankees (32-13) took advantage of some good fortune and another mistake by the Rays (26-18) to add a run in the seventh.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa drew a leadoff walk from Ralph Garza Jr. He went to second when Jose Trevino rolled a ball slowly down the third-base line that hit the bag, then to third on an infield out and scored on a wild pitch.
The Rays got two of their first three batters on against Yankees starter Nestor Cortes, as Yandy Diaz drew a leadoff walk and Harold Ramirez singled with one out. But they didn’t get another until Vidal Brujan reached on an error in the sixth.
They finished with just four hits against Cortes, who worked eight innings before exiting after allowing a leadoff single to Wander Franco in the ninth.
The Rays and Yankees, oddly, hadn’t met yet this season before Thursday but will see plenty of each other over the next month as they play nine more times by June 22.
Though manager Kevin Cash downplayed the significance of the four-game series given that it is still May, several of his players said they were looking forward to measuring up against the team with the game’s best record.
“It’s exciting,’’ veteran centerfielder Kevin Kiermaier said before the game. “It’s going to be a fun, challenging four days, four games against these guys. They’ve played really well. Their record will stand up for that.
“I always tell you guys you find out a lot about your team when we need to rise the occasion at the most crucial time. These guys are leading our division, we’re trying to make up some ground on them, and we’re going to do everything in our power to put our best product out there.
“We know our work is definitely cut out for us, but this will be a really good test for us here in mid-May and excited to see how the guys respond.’’
