NEW YORK (Interstat) — Aaron Judge’s two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning lifted the New York Yankees to a 2-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday afternoon at Yankee Stadium II, snapping a scoreless deadlock in a game defined by dominant starting pitching.

Both teams managed seven hits, but the game remained scoreless until Judge’s 17th homer of the season, a fly ball to right-center field that scored Trent Grisham and decided the contest. The win improved the Yankees to 31-22, while the Rays, who own the best record in the American League at 34-16, fell for just the second time in their last seven games.

The pitching duel lived up to the billing. Yankees left-hander Ryan Weathers delivered seven shutout innings, allowing four hits and striking out four without issuing a walk. Rays right-hander Drew Rasmussen matched him with seven scoreless innings of his own, giving up five hits and fanning six. Neither starter factored in the decision, but both left the mound with the game still tied 0-0.

Weathers, who entered with a 1-2 record and had allowed five earned runs in his previous outing against Toronto, showed sharp command and induced weak contact throughout. He retired the side in order in the first, fourth and seventh innings. The only inning in which he faced significant traffic came in the third, when Yandy Díaz singled and Jonathan Aranda followed with a single that deflected off second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr., putting runners at first and third with one out. Weathers escaped by getting Junior Caminero to ground into a 6-4-3 double play.

Rasmussen was equally efficient, scattering five singles and a walk. He worked around a leadoff single in the first by Judge and a two-out single by Chisholm in the second, then retired 10 of 11 batters from the second through the fifth. The Yankees mounted their best threat against him in the fourth when Cody Bellinger singled and Paul Goldschmidt walked, but Chisholm struck out to end the inning.

Both bullpens took over in the eighth. Fernando Cruz pitched a scoreless inning for the Yankees, allowing two hits but escaping after a defensive play that cut down Caminero at third base on a single by Ryan Vilade. Tampa Bay’s Kevin Kelly, the losing pitcher, entered for the bottom of the ninth.

Kelly, who dropped to 3-2, walked Grisham on four pitches to start the inning. Judge then stepped in and launched a 1-0 pitch over the right-center field wall, giving the Yankees a walk-off victory. The homer was Judge’s second hit of the game; he also singled in the first inning. Tim Hill earned the win, his first of the season against two losses, after retiring the Rays in order in the top of the ninth.

The game featured several other notable performances. Yankees catcher Austin Wells went hitless but was involved in a replay review in the first inning that overturned a strike call. Rays designated hitter Yandy Díaz collected two hits, including a double in the eighth, and catcher Nick Fortes doubled in the second for one of Tampa Bay’s seven hits. The Rays left seven runners on base and went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position.

The shutout was the first time the Rays had been blanked since a 2-0 loss at Boston on May 8. It also marked the third consecutive head-to-head game between the two teams decided by two runs or fewer, following a 4-2 Rays win Friday and a scoreless tie Saturday that was suspended or completed earlier? The provided records show a 0-0 line for Saturday’s game, but the actual result appears to have been a postponement or incomplete, as both teams had zero runs.

With the series tied 1-1 after the first two games, the Yankees evened the series and moved within three games of the Rays in the AL East standings despite Tampa Bay’s superior record. New York now heads to Kansas City for a three-game set starting Monday, while the Rays travel to Baltimore for a three-game series.

The Interstat game simulator had projected a final score of Tampa Bay Rays 8, New York Yankees 4, but the actual result was a pitcher’s duel that produced only two runs. Interstat’s ELO system gave the Yankees a 57.10 percent probability to win, and New York was installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus-1.5. The total score of 2 went over the over/under line of 7.5.