Yanks use 8 pitchers to 2-hit Rays, but Aaron Hicks leaves with injury

Yankees use all relievers in forging 4-1 win at Tampa Bay.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — As Yankees manager Aaron Boone was saying before the first of four against the Tampa Bay Rays this week at Tropicana Field, baseball is a copy-cat game.

And so, with the Yanks wanting to give at least three of their starters an extra day of rest in this final week of the regular season, Boone went with an opener instead of a starting pitcher on Monday night.

Why Gregorius is optimistic he’ll be back this week

What worked for the Rays for most of the season worked for the Yanks for one night.

Bullpen piece Jonathan Holder worked a scoreless inning in his first start, then a parade of relievers followed in what became a 4-1 Yankees win in which the Rays were limited to just two hits.

The Yankees used eight pitchers and only winning pitcher Sonny Gray, who allowed the only run and two hits pitching the third and fourth, went more than one inning.

“It worked out pretty well,” Boone said.

Holder worked his way into a two-on, one-out jam in the first by walking a pair, but he pitched out of it and then was gone, as rookie Stephen Tarpley worked the second.

After Gray’s two-inning outing, Chad Green, David Robertson, Aroldis Chapman, Dellin Betances and Zach Britton turn turns working scoreless (and hitless) innings.

The bad news for the Yankees is they lost another starter to an injury, as center fielder Aaron Hicks departed after 3 1/2 innings with a tight left hamstring.

“Hopefully it’s not something that will keep him down too long,” Boone said.

Shortstop Didi Gregorius suffered torn cartilage in his right wrist Saturday on a head-first slide into home plate that finished off an 11-inning walk-off win over Baltimore that clinched a playoff berth for the Yankees.

Brett Gardner replaced Hicks in center and wound up making the play of the game on a blast by Brandon Lowe, a leaping grab at the left-center wall to end the Rays sixth with two on in a 3-1 game.

“I threw a fastball right down the middle and (Lowe) put a good swing on it,” Robertson said. “Thank goodness Gardy was out there because that was an unbelievable play. He banged his head pretty hard against the fence out there, too, catching it. I think it was the game-saving catch, the game-saving play that we had out of there.”

Gardner also had a RBI bloop single in the fifth inning that gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead.

This was an important win for the Yankees, who reduced their magic number to five for gaining home-field advantage in the American League Wild Card Game, which will be played a week from Wednesday.

The Yankees probably will be playing the Athletics, but they’re still a slight chance that Oakland could win the AL West and push the Houston Astros into the Wild Card Game. Houston went into Monday with a 4 1/2-game lead over the second-place Athletics.

The Yankees made this a bullpen game because they wanted Luis Severino, Masahiro Tanaka and CC Sabathia pushed back a day this week.

According to Boone, this decision had nothing to do with setting up his rotation for next week’s Wild Card Game and then a possible best-of-five Division Series against the Boston Red Sox. If everyone stays in turn, J.A. Happ would pitch the Wild Card Game, and if the Yanks win they’d have Severino and Tanaka lined up to pitch the first two games against Boston.

Teams going with a bullpen game is nothing new, but the Rays made it a regular thing for the first time this season and it worked to incredible success.

After blowing up their team again last winter, the Rays made it to the final week of the regular season officially alive the AL Wild Card chase with a rotation that usually consisted of two true starters. The Yanks’ win on Monday night eliminated the Rays.

And the Yanks’ copying the Rays is what officially killed their season.

“One run, we’ll take that!” Boone said. “It was a little different. A good all-around effort by obviously a lot of guys on the pitching staff.”

NOTABLE

— Catcher Gary Sanchez had two more passed balls, his 16th and 17th of the season.

— Yankees left fielder Andrew McCutchen opened the scoring with a one-out solo homer in the third.

LOOKING AHEAD

Tuesday: Yankees at Tampa Bay Rays, 7:10 p.m., YES / ESPN. RHP Luis Severino (18-8, 3.38) vs. TBA.

Wednesday: Yankees at Tampa Bay Rays, 7:10 p.m., YES. RHP Masahiro Tanaka (12-5, 3.67) vs. TBA.

Thursday: Yankees at Tampa Bay Rays, 1:10 p.m., YES / MLB Network. LHP CC Sabathia (8-7, 3.77) vs. RHP Tyler Glasnow (2-7, 4.23).

Randy Miller may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.