The pesky Tampa Bay Rays put all the pressure on the big, bad New York Yankees.

Richie Palacios hit a two-run single in a four-run fifth inning, and Tampa Bay took advantage of New York’s sloppy defense, beating Cam Schlittler and the Yankees 5-2 on Monday night in St. Petersburg, Fla., to take a 2-0 lead in their American League Division Series.

The Rays are one victory from reaching the American League Championship Series. Game 3 in the best-of-five playoff is Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium.

“That’s a byproduct of having a really good clubhouse and a bunch of selfless teammates,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “They don’t care who gets it done. They just want to get it done. The biggest cheerleaders are coming from the guys within the dugout. Good teams do not rely on just one or two people. We rely on all nine in the lineup, the guys on the bench and certainly our entire pitching staff.”

Ben Rice homered twice for the Yankees, who are on the verge of elimination — which would extend their drought without a World Series championship to 17 seasons.

They were dominated by Drew Rasmussen in the series opener and have scored just two runs in two playoff games against the AL East champion Rays with three-time AL Most Valuable Player Aaron Judge out of the lineup due to a calf injury.

“Well, we’ve got to win. We’ve got to play the first inning of Game 3,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “We’ve got to come out and play well. So we’ve responded all year. We need to do it again. Obviously, we need to play better, and it starts with just one at a time. I don’t even get ahead of myself and win three. We’ve got to go win one, and we’ve got to play better Wednesday night to make that happen.”

The small-ball Rays chased Schlittler, the likely AL Cy Young Award winner, in the fifth aided by New York’s defensive miscues.

Jonathan Aranda lined a single to start the inning, and Junior Caminero ripped a double to right-center. With the infield drawn-in except second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr., who was standing several feet further back on the dirt, Liam Hicks hit a slow bouncer to second that scored Aranda for a 2-1 lead. Chisholm’s only play was at first because he wasn’t all the way in like the rest of the infielders.

Chandler Simpson then hit a grounder that shortstop George Lombard Jr. flubbed, scoring Caminero to make it 3-1. It was initially ruled a hit and then changed to an error and eventually a fielder’s choice. Brent Headrick replaced Schlittler and struck out Victor Mesa Jr. After Simpson stole second, Jonny DeLuca reached on a grounder when Lombard’s throw to first was wide for New York’s fourth error.

Palacios followed with a hard single to center that increased Tampa Bay’s lead to 5-1.

“It was just one of those games things kind of compiled and stacked up on top of each other,” Lombard said. “It wasn’t ideal. We put ourselves in a bad spot.”

White Sox up 2-0

The White Sox are returning to Chicago one win from advancing to the ALCS for the first time in 21 years.

Braden Montgomery lined a two-run double down the right-field line in the sixth inning for the go-ahead runs, and Sean Burke allowed one hit in 5 1/3 innings of impressive relief as the White Sox rallied past the Cleveland Guardians 4-3 on Monday in Cleveland to take a 2-0 lead in their series.

Game 3 is Wednesday afternoon at Guaranteed Rate Field, where the White Sox have two chances to do something they haven’t done since 1906 — clinch a postseason series at home.

“They’ve been waiting 120 years, so maybe we can do it this year,” said Grant Taylor, who worked 1 1/3 innings and allowed one hit as he got his second straight save. “I think it’s going to be unbelievable. Those fans deserve it. They’ve been with us for three years of 100 losses, and they’ve been with us a good bit this year giving us a lot of support as we’ve gone through this. So being able to give them a postseason game is going to be pretty special.”

The surprising White Sox improved to 4-0 in these playoffs — all on the road — and are one win from reaching the ALCS for the first time since winning the World Series in 2005. Chicago became the first team to reach the postseason after three straight 100-loss seasons, including a post-1900 record 121 defeats in 2024.

“Our club has been confident the entire year, regardless of the previous result,” manager Will Venable said. “They come in ready to play and turn the page. Now, we’re really excited to get playoff baseball to our fans.”