NEW YORK -- To hear his teammates and manager say it, Brett Gardner is "the heart and soul" of the New York Yankees.

On Thursday, Gardner was responsible for giving the Yankees a pulsating victory.

Gardner scored the tying run in the bottom of the ninth inning and led off the 11th with the winning homer as the Yankees outlasted the Tampa Bay Rays 6-5 in the opener of a four-game series.

Gardner gave the Yankees a fourth straight win when he slugged a 1-1 pitch from Andrew Kittredge (0-1) over the right-field fence as the game approached the four-hour mark.

"Excited. I'm just happy I was able to come through in a big spot like that," Gardner said.

It was his career-high 18th homer and his third career walk-off homer. Gardner's previous game-ending blast came on April 23, 2016, off Tampa Bay's Erasmo Ramirez.

"He's the heart and soul," Yankees left-hander CC Sabathia said. "He gets everybody going. It's great to see him have a great year."

"He is an energetic guy that stirs the pot, that keeps the guys loose," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "He's a leader. He plays hard every day. There's just so many different things."

The homer touched off a wild celebration at the plate that ended with Aaron Judge getting hit in the face by a helmet and chipping a tooth.

"He's too big to get hurt by something like that," Gardner said. "He'll be all right."

The late heroics were made possible when Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez hit the tying single with two outs in the ninth. The Rays botched a ground ball on a shift play. Sanchez's ground ball got in between second baseman Tim Beckham and shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria after Beckham hesitated for a second, and Gardner scored after opening the inning with a triple.

Beckham was shifted to the third-base side of the bag, but the infielders just looked at each other and neither player made the play as the ball trickled into center field.

"We were in the right position," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "Fair to say there was some miscommunication. Both guys appeared to give up on the ball."

Before taking a major-league-worst 32nd loss after holding a lead at some point, Tampa Bay grabbed a lead on pinch hitter Brad Miller's two-run double in the fifth and went up 5-3 on Corey Dickerson's solo homer in the sixth.

"It's a tough loss," Beckham said. "Tough pill to swallow. Our pitching came out, they did their job and we've got to get them the win right there. It was our game to win."

Those hits occurred off Chad Green, but four more New York relievers followed with four scoreless innings, and Aroldis Chapman (3-1) pitched two perfect innings.

New York, which blew an early 3-0 lead, made it a one-run game in the eighth on pinch hitter Matt Holliday's RBI groundout against Brad Boxberger.

Jacoby Ellsbury and Todd Frazier collected RBIs in the second inning off Chris Archer, and Sanchez homered off the right-hander in the third.

Evan Longoria started Tampa Bay's comeback with his eighth career homer off Sabathia, in the fourth. Peter Bourjos hit an RBI double off Sabathia in the fifth before the Rays took the lead.

Archer allowed three runs on seven hits and two walks in six innings. He struck out 10, including Frazier and Tyler Wade with the bases loaded to finish his 25th career double-digit strikeout game.

Sabathia allowed four runs and five hits in 4 1/3 innings.

NOTES: Tampa Bay made a pair of trades, acquiring LHP Dan Jennings from the Chicago White Sox and 1B Lucas Duda from the New York Mets. Duda is expected to join the Rays in time for the Friday game. The Rays designated RHP Diego Moreno and OF Shane Peterson for assignment to make room for their new players. ... Yankees manager Joe Girardi said OF Aaron Hicks (strained right oblique) and 1B/OF Tyler Austin (strained right hamstring) would begin rehab assignments when New York starts its next road trip Aug. 4 in Cleveland. ... Girardi was ejected for arguing balls and strikes by plate umpire Stu Scheurwater after objecting to a called Strike 1 by RHP Sergio Romo to RF Aaron Judge. It was Girardi's third ejection of the season and 33rd since becoming New York's manager in 2008. Afterward, Girardi said: "I just thought it was really inconsistent tonight."