Matt Moore struck out 11 in five innings of his first major league start and the Tampa Bay Rays unloaded on the watered-down Yankees for a 15-8 victory Thursday, a night after New York clinched the AL East title.

The Rays avoided a four-game sweep and pulled within two games on idle Boston in the AL wild-card race. Both teams have six games left.

Before this game, New York catcher Russell Martin declared how much he hated the Red Sox and would like to see them miss the playoffs. Tampa Bay took advantage of four Yankees errors and romped.

B.J. Upton was a double shy of the cycle in four at-bats, Ben Zobrist homered among his three hits and Johnny Damon also connected for Tampa Bay. Facing a lineup of backups and rookies, the Rays roughed up Bartolo Colon and led 13-0 in the fifth inning.