< Giancarlo Stanton,
left, celebrates with Brett Gardner after hitting a walkoff single to give the Yankees a 3-2 win over the Nats.
— Giancarlo Stanton lined a slider into left field, sending the New York Yankees streaming of the dugout for the second straight day, this time sporting pink socks, sweatshirts and wristbands to mark Mother's Day.
After consecu- tive walk-off wins over the Washington Nationals, the Yankees felt ready for a trip to Tampa Bay, their biggest nemesis in recent years.
“It hasn't been in our favor against them lately,” Stanton said after his ninth-inning single off Brad Hand gave New York a 3-2 win Sunday. “We need to change that.”
New York (18-16) completed its longest homestand this season with a 7-2 record.
The AL champion Rays have won 18 of the last 23 meetings going into Tuesday's series opener, including a five-game victory in last year's Division Series.
A three-game sweep by the Rays in the Bronx from April 16-18 dropped the Yankees to a season-worst 5-10 record.
“Last year during the regular season, they beat us up,” New York manager Aaron Boone acknowledged. “They're obviously very good at preventing runs. They've got versatility in their lineup. So they're a challenge, and you've got to play well if you're going to beat them.”
Hand (2-1) relieved in the ninth with the score 2-2, a day after he wasted ninth- and 10th-inning leads in the Yankees' 4-3, 11-inning victory, a game Gleyber Torres won with a 50-foot, bases-loaded single.
Hand walked his first batter for the second straight day, Tyler Wade, on four pitches and then walked pinch-hitter Aaron Judge on a full count.
DJ LeMahieu, who wore pink-tinted sunglasses before rain started, grounded to Starlin Castro. Rather than step on third to force the lead runner, Castro threw to second for a possible double play and LeMahieu beat second baseman Josh Harrison's throw for first, leaving runners at the corners.
Stanton fell behind 1-2, took a slider in the dirt, then lined a high slider for the Yankees' fifth hit of the game and his 24th RBI this season. Stanton has seven walk-off hits, including two for the Yankees.
“When you win those games that are down to the wire, it's big,” Stanton said. “The way you find wins and the way you scrape them out, it pays off and it helps the flow of getting these wins in series.”
Hand threw 29 pitches Saturday, then 17 more Sunday.
“These past two days, I've really just kind of beat myself, giving up the free baserunners there to begin the inning,” Hand said. “You just can't keep falling behind hitters like that.”
New York built a 2-0 lead on Aaron
Hicks' RBI single in the third and Torres' solo homer in the sixth, a 411-foot drive into the left-field bleachers. Torres pumped a fist leaving the plate.
“You know how bad he wanted it,” Stanton said. “You could tell in his reaction.”
Torre had not homered in 136 plate appearances this season, and had not gone deep since last Sept. 17 against Toronto.
“I'm just so happy to hit one for my mom,” said Torres, who recalled hitting three minor league homers on Mother's Day. “Before I left the house, I told her, ‘I'll do something for you.'”
Torres said his mom, Ibelise Castro, planned to meet him in Tampa, Florida, this week.