ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Corey Kluber limited the Yankees to a pair of singles over seven shutout innings and the Tampa Bay Rays withstood Aaron Judge’s 52nd home run, beating New York 2-1 Saturday night to cut their deficit in the AL East to four games.

The first-place Yankees, who have seen their 15 1/2-game advantage slip away, have lost six of seven. Tampa Bay blanked them on five hits in the series opener Friday night, a 9-0 loss that New York Manager Aaron Boone called “embarrassing.”

This was the second of six games between the teams in a 10-day stretch. Yandy Diaz hit a two-run single in the third inning and the Rays made it stand up.

Judge boosted his major league homer lead with a leadoff drive in the ninth inning off Jason Adam. But Adam retired the next three batters for his eighth save.

Kluber (10-7) struck out four without a walk as the Rays improved their AL-best record since Aug. 3 to 20-9. It was the first time the 36-year old has thrown a pitch in the seventh inning since his no-hitter for the Yankees on May 19, 2021, at Texas.

Peter Fairbanks had a perfect eighth before Adam closed.

Kluber retired 14 in a row before Aaron Hicks reached on a throwing error by second baseman Jonathan Aranda in the sixth and went to second on Judge’s single.

WHITE SOX 13, TWINS 0: Dylan Cease lost his bid for a no-hitter when Minnesota’s Luis Arraez singled with two outs in the ninth inning as Chicago won at home.

After Arraez’s hit, Cease struck out Kyle Garlick for his first career nine-inning complete game.

Cease walked Jake Cave in the third and Gilberto Celestino in the sixth for Minnesota’s first two baserunners. Cave was erased when Gary Sanchez bounced into a double play. Celestino was stranded when Cease struck out Luis Arraez.

Jake Cave hit a liner right at first baseman José Abreu for the final out of the Minnesota eighth.

The most recent no-hitter for Chicago was Carlos Rodon’s gem against Cleveland on April 14, 2021.

ROYALS 12, TIGERS 2: Kyle Isbel hit his first grand slam, Bobby Witt Jr. added a three-run home run and Kansas City won in Detroit.

Nick Pratto and MJ Melendez also homered for the Royals. Nate Eaton had four hits and drove in two runs. Winning pitcher Jonathan Heasley (3-7) gave up two earned runs and eight hits, with two walks and two strikeouts in seven innings.

Isbel, a 25-year-old outfielder, hit his grand slam over the wall in right field off Jason Foley in the fifth to give the Royals a 9-1 lead. The slam was Isbel’s fourth of the season and fifth of his two-year major league career.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

GIANTS 5, PHILLIES 4: Joc Pederson drove in three runs, drawing a bases-loaded walk that broke a sixth-inning tie and sent the Giants to a win in San Francisco.

The Giants won their second in a row following a seven-game losing streak. The Phillies have lost five of six.

Pederson got two hits to continue his strong series against the wild card-contending Phillies. On Friday night, he homered and drove in five runs during a 13-1 romp.

Philadelphia pitchers again had trouble with their control — a day after issuing 10 walks, they walked three batters in the sixth. With the score 3-all and the bases loaded with two outs, reliever Brad Hand (3-2) got ahead of Pederson in the count 0-2, then walked him to force home the go-ahead run.

NOTES

YANKEES: Left fielder Andrew Benintendi went on the 10-day injured list with right wrist inflammation.

Benintendi left in the third inning of Friday night’s 9-0 loss to Tampa Bay after injuring the wrist on a swing. He shook his hand and immediately walked to the Yankees dugout.

New York Manager Aaron Boone said Benintendi thought something popped on the wrist and that he had some finger numbness afterward.

“We’ve got to get some more tests, more imaging and more opinions to kind of really narrow down exactly what it is,” Boone said. “There’s still some questions out there.”

New York first baseman Anthony Rizzo had his timeframe pushed back in terms of resuming workouts after he had an epidural shot Thursday for lingering lower back pain. He had been scheduled to rehab Saturday and Sunday before resuming baseball activities Monday, but Boone said the slugger will have down days this weekend and hopefully ramp things up Monday.

There was good news about three injured starting pitchers.

Lefty Nestor Cortes, sidelined by a strained left groin, threw 45 pitches to hitters Saturday at the Yankees’ minor league complex in nearby Tampa, Florida.

Boone expects Cortes to rejoin the rotation Thursday.

Righty Luis Severino, out with a right lat strain, allowed one hit and struck out three over two scoreless innings for Single-A Tampa on Friday night. He will make his next appearance Thursday with either Double-A Somerset or Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Right-hander Jameson Taillon, hit on the right forearm by a batted ball Tuesday, is expected to make his next scheduled start.

RAYS: Shortstop Wander Franco is set to resume his minor league rehab assignment with Triple-A Durham on Sunday.

Franco, who went on the injured list July 10 with a right hamate bone injury that required surgery, played part of one game in mid-August for Durham but departed early due to hand soreness.

The 21-year-old Franco will likely spent all of next week playing with Durham. He took on-field batting practice off a pitching machine Friday and Saturday.