Max Fried pitched into the seventh inning and the Yankees used the other team’s mistakes to their advantage for a change as they held on to beat the Rays, 7-5, on Tuesday night in the Bronx.

The win improves the Yankees’ record against the AL East to 12-18. The win, coupled with the Blue Jays being swept in their doubleheader with the Orioles, has cut Toronto’s lead for the division to four games.

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Here are the takeaways…

– The defense betrayed Fried early in this one. After Yandy Diaz led off with a single, Jonathan Aranda hit a groundball up the middle to Anthony Volpe, but the young shortstop flipped the ball too far for Jazz Chisholm Jr. to field, allowing the runners to reach safely. The error would come back to haunt the Yankees as Jonny DeLuca hit a two-out triple to score both runs and put New York in a 2-0 hole. Volpe would make up for it later.

The extra pitches didn’t help Fried, who did not have his usual command. While Tampa wouldn’t score too many runs on the southpaw — an Aranda leadoff homer in the third the only blemish — Fried labored through the first four innings but settled down once the Yankees grabbed the lead. The left-hander retired 14 straight after the Aranda homer and gave the Yankees some necessary length. He pitched into the seventh, but after getting the first two outs, Fried walked Fortes and Aaron Boone came out, but the southpaw said he wanted the next batter and the Yankees skipper obliged. However, Taylor Walls hit a run-scoring double to cut the Yankees’ lead to 6-4. That was it for Fried.

Fried tossed a career-high 111 pitches (69 strikes) across 6.2 innings, allowing four runs (two earned) on four hits, two walks and striking out nine batters.

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– A day after the offense scored just two runs on six hits, it looked like it was going to be more of the same on Tuesday. Despite working walks and getting traffic on the basepaths, the Yankees just couldn’t get the big hit against youngster Joe Boyle. In the third, the Yankees had runners on the corners with two outs when Cody Bellinger launched a missile over the right field wall to knot things up at 3-3.

New York would take the lead in the fourth after Jasson Dominguez led off the inning with a single, stole second and advanced to third on a flyout. Volpe brought him home by singling up the middle to put the Yankees up 4-3. Volpe and Austin Wells — who reached on an error– pulled off the double steal and catcher Nick Fortes — who the Rays traded for from the Marlins this week — threw it into left field, allowing Volpe to score.

After a Ben Rice walk, Paul Goldschmidt got in on the action with an RBI single.

– The Yankees wouldn’t get much going offensively until the eighth, when Volpe launched his 15th homer of the season 452 feet into the Yankee bullpen. It was the longest home run of Volpe’s career and gave New York a much-needed insurance run. The Yankees had just six hits in this game and Volpe and Dominguez had four of them.

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– The Yankees’ bullpen, which is short because the team has played so many consecutive days, was tasked with getting the final seven outs. After Jonathan Loaisiga got the final out of the seventh, he came back out for the eighth and allowed back-to-back singles to lead off the inning. Loaisiga would get Chrostpher Morel to ground into a double play before Chandler Simpson popped out to end the threat.

Devin Williams had a shaky ninth inning. Josh Lowe hit a lead-off triple and Jose Caballero walked. Tristan Gray grounded into a force out, pushing across Lowe from third. Taylor Walls also grounded into a force out before Diaz reached on a throwing error by Volpe, the shortstop’s league-leading 15th of the season. Volpe shorted the throw to Goldschmidt that the first baseman couldn’t scoop up. But Williams got Aranda to strike out with the tying runs on base to complete the save.

Game MVP: Max Fried

Again, Fried gave the Yankees the length they needed and showed why he is their ace this season.

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Highlights

What’s next

The Yankees and Rays continue their four-game set on Wednesday evening. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m.

Will Warren (6-5, 4.82 ERA) will take the mound while Tampa will send Zack Littell (8-8, 3.72 ERA) to the bump.