Yankees vs. Rays score: Gleyber Torres and Luke Voit homer, New York's arms deliver to force ALDS Game 5

The AL East rivals will play a winner-take-all Game 5 on Friday

The New York Yankees will play another day. Thursday night at Petco Park, the Yankees outlasted the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 4 of the ALDS to even the series up at two games apiece (NY 5, TB 1). The decisive Game 5 will be played Friday night. The winner moves on to face the Astros in the ALCS. Loser goes home.

Jordan Montgomery and ace relievers Chad Green, Zack Britton, and Aroldis Chapman held the Rays to one run and three hits in Game 4, and the Yankees received timely home runs from Luke Voit (solo) and Gleyber Torres (two-run) to stave off elimination. Some late insurance runs make the game seem more one-sided than it really was given the final score. It was tight throughout.

Here are three takeaways from Game 4.

Montgomery gave the Yankees what they needed

The pitching other than Gerrit Cole has been a real problem for the Yankees this postseason. Their non-Cole hurlers had allowed 25 runs in 31 innings going into Game 4, and they gave the ball to lefty Jordan Montgomery with their season on the line. He had a 5.11 ERA during the regular season.

Montgomery gave the Yankees exactly what they needed. He held the Rays to one run in four innings, and danced around danger in the third and fourth innings (stranded two runners in each inning). Understandably, the Yankees did not let Montgomery go through the lineup a third time. They took the four innings and ran. 

Once Montgomery got them through four innings, the Yankees were able to turn the game over to their top high-leverage relievers. Chad Green retired all six batters he faced, Zack Britton retired all five batters he faced, and Aroldis Chapman walked a batter en route to the four-out save.

After allowing at least seven runs and at least three homers in back-to-back postseason games for the first time in franchise history in Games 2-3, New York's pitching staff kept the Rays in check in Game 4. Realistically, there was no way to force a Game 5 without a great pitching performance, and four pitchers provided it Thursday.

The offense made some minor history

Following Luke Voit's solo home run to open the scoring, the Yankees loaded the bases with no outs against Rays opener Ryan Thompson, but managed only one run on a DJ LeMahieu sacrifice fly. It felt like a huge blown opportunity they would eventually regret. 

The Yankees managed to nurse that lead until the sixth inning, when Gleyber Torres provided insurance with a two-run home run off the Western Metal Supply building in left field. He now has five career postseason home runs, tied with Mickey Mantle for the most by a Yankee before his 24th birthday. 

Giancarlo Stanton did not go deep in Game 4 -- he hit six homers in New York's first five postseason games -- but he did rip a double to the wall in left field. He is now the first player in MLB history with an extra-base hit in each of his team's first six games in a single postseason.

Also, LeMahieu started Game 4 with an infield single, extending his postseason hitting streak to 12 games. That dates back to Game 1 of last year's ALCS and is tied for the third-longest postseason hitting streak in Yankees history: 

1. Hank Bauer: 17 games (1956-58) 
2. Derek Jeter: 17 games (1998-99) 
3. Derek Jeter: 12 games (2001-01) 
4. Bernie Williams: 12 games (2003-04)
5. DJ LeMahieu: 12 games and counting (2019-present)   
   

Torres, Stanton, and LeMahieu all made a history in Game 4. Minor history, but history nonetheless. More importantly for the Yankees, they all contributed to a win and forced a Game 5.

We're getting a Game 5

And it might be the only one in the LDS. The Astros and Braves have already punched their ticket to the LCS, and the Dodgers hold a commanding 2-0 series lead over the Padres. Game 5 is Friday night. It'll be Gerrit Cole on short rest of the Yankees. The Rays are countering with Tyler Glasnow, their Game 2 starter, in what's likely to be an all-arms-on-deck situation for Tampa.

[Oct 8, 2020 at 10:24 pm ET · Matt Snyder]

there will be a Game 5. It's starting to look like just one out of the four divisional series will play on Friday, given how the Dodgers-Padres game is shaping up

[Oct 8, 2020 at 10:14 pm ET · Dayn Perry]

Going into the ninth, the Yankees have a 99 percent chance of forcing a decisive Game 5 tomorrow.

[Oct 8, 2020 at 10:10 pm ET · Matt Snyder]

ruled an error. Yankees could really put this one away now

[Oct 8, 2020 at 10:09 pm ET · Mike Axisa]

Yankees add an insurance run in the eighth and they're still threatening. It's 5-1 now and Hicks is batting with the bases loaded.

[Oct 8, 2020 at 10:06 pm ET · Matt Snyder]

5-1 now

[Oct 8, 2020 at 10:01 pm ET · Matt Snyder]

8-1 .... seems like I'd leave him in. 10-1?

[Oct 8, 2020 at 10:00 pm ET · Matt Snyder]

I took over 9.0 runs in this game, so I'd be OK with finding out

[Oct 8, 2020 at 9:56 pm ET · Mike Axisa]

How big would the lead have to be to take Chapman out of an elimination game and save him for tomorrow? I think no fewer than 10 runs.

[Oct 8, 2020 at 9:56 pm ET · Mike Axisa]

Chapman hits 101 to strike out Arozarena. The Yankees will take at least a three-run lead into the ninth inning.

[Oct 8, 2020 at 9:50 pm ET · Mike Axisa]

Britton gets five outs on 22 pitches. The Yankees are going to Chapman for a four-out save with a three-run lead. I think they're trying to save some bullets for tomorrow?

[Oct 8, 2020 at 9:39 pm ET · Matt Snyder]

looks like the streak will end one game shy of Daniel Murphy's record. Stanton homered in five straight postseason games. Murphy did so six in a row in 2015. Barring a Rays comeback or huge Yankees rally, he surely won't bat again

[Oct 8, 2020 at 9:38 pm ET · Mike Axisa]

No homer for Stanton there. He doubles to the wall in left field instead.

[Oct 8, 2020 at 9:31 pm ET · Mike Axisa]

Yankees up three. They're six outs away from forcing a Game 5.

[Oct 8, 2020 at 9:26 pm ET · Dayn Perry]

Yankees now 90.2 percent to win Game 4.

[Oct 8, 2020 at 9:19 pm ET · Mike Axisa]

Gleyber Torres gives the Yankees some insurance with a two-run homer off the Western Metal Supply building. 108 mph exit velocity. That's a pretty big number for him.

[Oct 8, 2020 at 9:11 pm ET · Mike Axisa]

Yankees have a one-run lead with nine out to go in an elimination game. This is why Britton and Chapman get the big bucks.