Rays 4, Yankees 3: Chris Gimenez drove in the winning run and B.J. Upton homered as host Tampa Bay carved a game off its American League East deficit.

Evan Longoria drove in a run in the fifth and James Shields (13-8) pitched eight strong innings for the Rays, who pulled to within 2 1/2 games of New York in the AL East and stayed 1 1/2 games behind the Baltimore Orioles for the second wild card spot.

The Yankees have lost nine of their last 13 games and are only one game clear of Baltimore in the East.

Tampa Bay pushed the go-ahead run across in the eight on Gimenez’s single through the right side. New York second baseman Robinson Cano lunged for the ball and had it skip just under his glove, allowing Ryan Roberts, who had singled and stolen second, to score easily.

The Rays struck first on Gimenez’s RBI single to center in the first and made it a 2-0 gap in the third on Upton’s 17th blast. The wiry center fielder got a 2-1 fastball from CC Sabathia and slammed it off a railing beyond the left-center field fence.

The Yankees took the lead with a three-run rally in the fourth but Upton scored on Longoria’s groundout in the fifth to knot it at 3-3.

Fernando Rodney struck out pinch hitter Curtis Granderson with the tying run at third base to end the game and lock up his 41st save.

David Robertson (1-5) suffered the loss after Sabathia had yielded three runs on eight hits in seven innings.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Rays manager Joe Maddon was ejected in the eighth for arguing an out call on a stolen base attempt. … New York's Alex Rodriguez, who missed more than a month with a fractured left hand, went 1-for-4 as the designated hitter Monday but could play third at some point in this series. The Yankees went 18-18 and had five games chopped off their lead in the AL East with Rodriguez down. … New York 1B Mark Teixeira (calf) took batting practice and could return this weekend at Baltimore. ... Tampa Bay has taken 10 of its last 11 at home against the Yankees.