ST. PETERSBURG -- The Rays weren¡¯t just defeated Sunday afternoon. They were overpowered.

The Yankees clubbed five home runs -- two by No. 8 hitter Jose Trevino -- and slammed the Rays, 10-6, at Tropicana Field. Four of the five homers came from the bottom four hitters in New York's lineup, in addition to a two-run shot from Aaron Judge.

¡°They have a bunch of guys who had a track record of hitting and putting the ball in play,¡¯¡¯ Rays manager Kevin Cash said. ¡°At the back end of their order or midway through, they¡¯ve got a lot of high-contact hitters. So you don¡¯t get the swing and miss [like other lineups]. They hit the ball, move it around and put pressure on us.¡¯¡¯

¡°I mean, it¡¯s the big leagues, right?¡¯¡¯ said Rays starter Tyler Alexander (1-2), who fell behind 6-0 after five innings and surrendered three of the homers. ¡°Just because you¡¯re hitting seventh, eighth or ninth doesn¡¯t mean you belong in Triple-A. Against the Yankees, you can¡¯t fall behind or lose your focus, no matter where you are in the order. And I didn¡¯t do a good enough job of that today.¡¯¡¯

The Rays, held to three hits through six innings, finally showed some life in the seventh, when they sent 11 batters to the plate and nearly overcame a 6-0 deficit.

Jose Siri¡¯s first career grand slam, a Statcast-projected 411-foot shot off Yankees reliever Caleb Ferguson with one out, made it 6-4. The Rays scored another run without putting the ball in play. Reliever Nick Burdi walked Yandy D¨ªaz and Josh Lowe, then loaded the bases by plunking Randy Arozarena with a 1-2 pitch.

Luke Weaver, the Yankees¡¯ third reliever of the inning, promptly forced in a run when his full-count offering grazed off the bill of Isaac Paredes¡¯ batting helmet, making it 6-5.

Weaver settled down to retire the next two batters -- including Richie Palacios on a fly ball to short right field, when Lowe tagged and went down the line, then thought better of it -- and the Rays¡¯ rally was done.

Soon after that, so was the game.

The Yankees answered with a four-run eighth inning, featuring a three-run homer by Gleyber Torres off Shawn Armstrong, then a solo shot by Trevino off Erasmo Ram¨ªrez.

D¨ªaz led off the Rays¡¯ ninth with a solo shot of his own, his second homer in as many games, but that was just window dressing.

¡°I didn¡¯t execute my pitches, and I didn¡¯t do my job,¡¯¡¯ Armstrong said. ¡°Our offense did an outstanding job in coming back. They keep doing what they¡¯re doing and we¡¯re going to win a lot of ballgames.¡¯¡¯

The Rays¡¯ offense was mostly held in check by Yankees starter Luis Gil (4-1), who tossed six scoreless innings and departed after a 91-pitch effort (53 strikes).

¡°Gil has really good stuff,¡¯¡¯ Cash said. ¡°That guy is only going to get better with the stuff that he¡¯s featuring from 95 to 100 miles an hour, the fastball, a good feel for the changeup. You understand why there were some struggles early in the ballgame.¡¯¡¯

Siri, coming into his seventh-inning at-bat mired in a 3-for-45 slump, transformed those struggles into excitement.

¡°He has been going through it a bit, so I¡¯m really encouraged and happy for him,¡¯¡¯ Cash said.

¡°Little by little, the hard work is paying off,¡¯¡¯ Siri said through team interpreter Manny Navarro. ¡°It¡¯s good to see some results.¡¯¡¯

Lost in the result, Cash said, was the gutsy work of Alexander, who needed 90 pitches (64 strikes) to last seven innings.

¡°I give Tyler a lot of credit that he was able to be efficient enough to get as deep as he did in the game,¡¯¡¯ Cash said. ¡°I know the game changed, but at 6-0, we could¡¯ve had to blow through our bullpen. He stayed at it. I¡¯m sure he¡¯s not happy about the home runs and falling behind the guys. But he competed.¡¯¡¯

The Rays will head to Boston after a 6-3 homestand in which they believe they could¡¯ve gotten another win or two. But they came in off a 1-5 road trip, so Cash said the club¡¯s confidence has a more positive trajectory.

¡°I thought we played really well,¡¯¡¯ Cash said. ¡°I feel like we¡¯re heading into the road trip a better team than we were when we came here.¡¯¡¯

¡°I thought we got some momentum from this homestand,¡¯¡¯ Lowe said. ¡°We showed some really good life and some stuff we haven¡¯t really been doing recently. I think we can build on that.¡¯¡¯