NEW YORK — First, Mariano Rivera couldn’t hold down the Rays.
Then, he couldn’t hold his tongue.

Pulled after facing six batters in the ninth inning and charged with four runs and the loss in the Yankees’ 9-7 setback to Tampa on Saturday afternoon, Rivera openly disagreed with manager Joe Girardi’s decision to have him intentionally walk pinch-hitter Evan Longoria with two outs and a runner on third.
The next batter, leadoff man B.J. Upton, followed with a single that gave Tampa an 8-5 lead and sent Rivera to an early shower.
“That’s the manager’s decision. If it was me, I would have pitched to him,” Rivera said. “That’s what I do. I’m not there to intentionally walk guys. I think I have good stuff to get hitters out. Again, that’s the manager’s decision. That’

er than Longoria over the course of the year.” Upton had struck out six times in seven previous career at-bats against Rivera while Longoria went into the at-bat with two hits, including a homer, in six tries.
But Longoria was not in the starting lineup again Saturday, having been removed from a game Tuesday with tightness in his left hamstring and sitting out Wednesday and Thursday. The Yankees and Rays were rained out Friday night, giving him another day off. But even after he was issued the free pass, he was promptly removed for a pinch-runner.
As much as Rivera was unhappy with Girardi’s decision, he was equally disappointed in himself for failing to preserve the 5-5 tie the Yankees had just forged in the bottom of the eighth on a solo home run by Mark Teixeira and a ground-out RBI by Melky Cabrera. With the top of the order due up in the ninth, Rivera was certain that if he did his job, the stage was set for another comeback win.
“It was tough. After the team ties the game to come back and do that,” Rivera said. “It’s hard. You go there to get three outs and all of a sudden you turn around ∞g“t’s four runs. It’s unacceptable.”
When it was all over, it turned out the best comeback team in baseball was outdone by its own formula. While the Yankees lead the majors with 19 come-from-behind wins, the Rays were the ones to get the last meaningful hit Saturday.
Not that the Yanks didn’t try, scoring twice in both the eighth and ninth innings and ending the game with a runner on second and Robinson Cano’s deep fly ball peeking out of the top of Upton’s glove in center field.
“With this lineup and this team, at any time we can bust out and score six or seven runs an inning. Our job is to keep it close enough,” said starter CC Sabathia.
What began as a much-hyped pitching duel between two imposing lefties, Sabathia and Rays’ flamethrower David Price, never really materialized as Sabathia made a few too many mistakes, Price walked a few too many batters and neither bullpen shut the door with authority.
Sabathia was doomed by a bad sixth-inning change-up to Willy Aybar, who connected for a three-run homer. He also gave up a solo homer to Ben Zobrist in a two-run fifth inning and was clearly not as sharp as he’d been in his last five starts, in which he went 4-0 with a 2.08 ERA.
“He made a couple of mistakes, a couple of key hits that hurt us today,” Girardi saidof Sabathia.
Price, who left the game in line for the win, walked five batters in 5·innings.
But it was the walk issued by Rivera that mattered Saturday. The Yankees’ veteran closer continues to struggle against the team’s primary division rivals, Tampa and Boston. Earlier this season, he blew a save on a Jason Bay home run at Fenway Park, and Saturday, he dropped his second decision this season to Tampa Bay.
“He’s been a very good stretch for us. It doesn’t happen very often, so when it happens you are a little bit shocked,” Girardi said.