IT'S DOWN TO 162
⚫ Monty, Yankees hammered by Rays, blow shot to clinch wild card ⚫ Finale will decide playoff fate
In the end, perhaps there was no other way for this year to be decided for the Yankees.
With a chance to secure a wild-card spot with a win Saturday, the Yankees got pounded by Tampa Bay, 12-2, in The Bronx to keep them waiting for their October fate.
Thanks to Boston’s win over Washington later on Saturday, the Yankees and their rivals head into Game 162 with the same record — and chaos still very much on the menu for the coming week.
After closing in on a postseason berth in Boston and Toronto earlier in the trip, the Yankees have returned home and dropped two straight to the Rays — in ugly fashion Saturday.
The Yankees need a win over first-place Tampa Bay on Sunday to secure a spot in the AL wild-card game — and if Boston beats the Nationals again, that elimination game would be at Fenway Park on Tuesday.
“It’s not ideal,’’ Brett Gardner said. “It’s nice knowing we do still have a chance. With the way our season has gone, it makes sense it comes down to the last day. It seems about right.”
And the Blue Jays, winners over Baltimore, are just a game behind both the Yankees and Red Sox, still very much in play to be included in the equation.
Seattle needed a win Saturday night against the Angels to remain alive, but the Yankees have their own issues to stew over.
“We got embarrassed,’’ Gardner said of Tampa Bay’s rout.
“Just a bad day for us,’’ Aaron Boone said. “We’ve got to get over it quickly.’’ Like, by Sunday’s regular-season finale. “We’ve got to take it and punch our ticket,’’ Boone said.
They barely showed up Saturday, as Jordan Montgomery gave up a pair of three-run homers to Brandon Lowe to put them in an early hole.
Lowe hit three home runs for Tampa Bay, who have already sealed the AL East title and the top seed in the AL playoffs. Saturday’s victory was their 100th of the season.
It was an ill-timed clunker from Montgomery, who had perhaps the worst start of his career.
He had allowed just three runs over 16 ¹/3 innings in his previous three starts, before matching that total in the first inning Saturday. And things only got worse, as he gave up a career-high three homers and seven in just 2 2/3 innings. earned runs
It started when the lefthander gave up a three-run homer to right to Lowe with two outs in the top of the first. It was just the third home run Montgomery has allowed to a lefty-swinger this season.
Anthony Rizzo hit a solo shot into the second deck in right in the bottom of the inning off rookie right-hander Shane Baz — who was making his third major league start.
But Lowe hit another three-run shot off Montgomery in the third to make it 6-1.
Mike Zunino followed Lowe with another homer off Montgomery, putting the Yankees in a 7-1 hole.
Baz walked Rizzo with one out in the third and was pulled for ex-Yankee prospect J.P. Feyereisen, who got Judge to fly out to the track in right.
Lowe homered for a third time in the game when he led off the seventh against Michael King with his 39th of the season, as the Yankees gave up a season-high 19 hits and five home runs.
Despite Saturday’s outcome — and extensive use of the bullpen — Boone said the Yankees should have enough high-leverage arms to be in a good position with their bullpen Sunday.
Yet again they have put themselves in a precarious position in this wildly inconsistent season that’s left them no margin for error.
“We’ll treat it like it’s the last game of the season,’’ Gardner said.