The Yankees rallied late and broke the game wide open with a pair of eighth-inning home runs to defeat the Rays, 8-3, Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium. >> Box score

Five takeaways from Tuesday's game

1) The eighth inning proved to be the deciding one for the Yanks, who trailed 4-3 with Gleyber Torres set to lead off against Colin Poche. The second baseman walked, but Brett Gardner struck out and D.J. LeMahieu lined out hard to right-center. That brought up Aaron Judge, who sent a ball just outside the right field foul pole on the sixth pitch of the at-bat. He made no mistake on the very next offering, however, powering a ball over the wall in right to give the Yankees a 4-3 lead. Poche remained in the game and allowed a single to Luke Voit and a double to Gary Sanchez before intentionally walking Edwin Encarnacion to load the bases for Didi Gregorius. On a 2-1 pitch, Gregorius ripped a grand slam deep into the right-field bleachers to give the Yankees plenty of breathing room.

2) CC Sabathia turned in a decent performance, tossing six innings and allowing three runs while striking out six in a no-decision. After allowing a solo home run to Austin Meadows in the second inning, he was victimized twice by Yandy Diaz, who hit a solo shot of his own in the fourth and an RBI double in the sixth. Sabathia's outing ended in somewhat dramatic fashion following Avisail Garcia's strikeout to end the sixth. As Sabathia walked back to the dugout, the two exchanged words as Gregorius -- to the best of his ability -- attempted to restrain the left-hander. Cooler heads eventually prevailed and no warnings nor ejections were issued.

3) David Hale did exactly what Aaron Boone was looking for when he brought the right-hander in to a high-leverage spot in the seventh inning. With the Yankees trailing 3-2, Nestor Cortes Jr. allowed a hit and a pair of walks to load the bases with one out. Boone called on Hale, who promptly induced a 6-4-3 double play off the bat of Travis d'Arnaud to end the inning. This kept the Yankees in the ballgame and laid the groundwork for the eighth-inning comeback.

4) Encarnacion has opened the second half showcasing the type of power Yankee fans were expecting when the team acquired him in June. His home run in the second inning was his third in two games, and he now has seven RBIs in four contests since the All-Star break, equaling his total in the 16 previous games in which he had played for the Yankees.

5) LeMahieu has picked up right where he left off in the first half of the season and now has hits in four straight games. His home run in the bottom of the sixth was his 12th of the season and cut the Rays lead to 3-2.

Highlights

Rose Up. #AllRise pic.twitter.com/76GBtVDo1U
- New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 17, 2019

Coda. pic.twitter.com/F1g6AUKq1D
- New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 17, 2019

Rage Against the Machine. pic.twitter.com/Pv6ji9KdAg
- New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 17, 2019

28 for 🦜 in 2019: pic.twitter.com/EsBvuSczMv
- New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 16, 2019

What's next

The Yankees and Rays continue their four-game series on Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. as Domingo German (11-2, 3.40 ERA) takes on Yonny Chirinos (8-4, 3.11 ERA).

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