ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — They may not be pretty, but the Yankees aren’t competing in a beauty contest.
Given how ugly they’ve been recently, they don’t care about style points and will take the win any way they can.
On Wednesday night, it relied on its relief pitchers to pull off a close 2-1 win over the Rays at Tropicana Field, its seventh win in its past 24 games.
The Yankees (56-38) took a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning on a two-RBI single by Trent Grisham and then hung on from there to secure their first series win since mid-June on Thursday.
In place of Marcus Stroman, who gave up just one run in 4 1/3 innings, the Yankees’ bullpen four — Tim Hill, Luke Weaver, Tommy Kahnle and Clay Holmes — walked a tightrope to help the team protect their one-run lead.
Four relief pitchers, part of a Yankees relief corps that has been overworked for nearly two months, combined to pitch 5 2/3 scoreless innings and leave 12 runners on base.
Overall, the Yankees held the Rays (45-47) to no hits for 10 at-bats with runners in scoring position, erasing a 10-6 hitting advantage in Tampa Bay’s favor.
Heading into this game, manager Aaron Boone made some changes to the lineup to give the offense a boost, moving Alex Verdugo to leadoff and Ben Rice to the cleanup spot.
But it was Grisham, the seventh batter, who hit a home run from the middle to lower part of the batting order that gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead off Rays right-hander Zach Eflin.
Anthony Volpe, who had a sluggish night with just three hits in 37 at-bats, singled with one out in the second inning and then gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead on a double off Grisham’s left field fence.
The Yankees then scored their second run with some help from the Rays.
Gleyber Torres led off the top of the fourth inning by drawing a full count and then Volpe grounded out to first base.
Yandy Diaz stepped on first base to get the out and then threw to second for a double play, but the ball flew into left field, allowing Torres to reach third base.
Grisham came up to bat next and hit a sacrifice fly deep to left field, sending Torres home for a 2-0 lead.
Stroman pitched the first four scoreless innings, but found himself in a pinch in the fifth inning when Ben Rotvedt and Taylor Walls hit consecutive singles to center field, sending a runner to third base.
Roltvedt scored on a fielder’s choice by Diaz, then Stroman walked Isaac Paredes, who had hit a game-clinching three-run homer off Carlos Rodon the night before, for his second walk of the game.
With the bases loaded and one out, Boone handed the ball over to Hill, and Stroman’s game for the night was over.
The lefty sidearm pitcher struck out Josh Rowe on three pitches and then got Randy Arozarena out with a liner to right field.
Hill put two runners on in the sixth inning, but Weaver put it away with the first pitch, stumbling into an inning-ending double play.
Then, after Weaver left two more runners on base in the seventh, Kahnle put two runners on base with two outs in the eighth and sent Holmes in early to score for the four-out save.
Grisham made another impact by running into a gap to make a catch to end the eighth inning before Holmes sealed the win with a quiet ninth inning.
