SAN DIEGO (AP) — Blake Snell couldn't get the Yankees to swing at his breaking balls, and the Tampa Bay Rays missed a chance to take an early advantage in the AL Division Series. Tampa Bay's ace was tagged for three homers during five inconsistent innings in a 9-3 loss to New York on Monday night in the series opener at Petco Park. The Rays weren't blown out until New York's five-run ninth, but the AL's best regular season team was unable to capitalize on its ace's first start — often a bad omen in any short series. Game 2 in the best-of-five set is Tuesday night. Although Snell had much of his usual dip and movement, he managed to generate only five swing-and-misses — just four on his vaunted breaking pitches — on 84 pitches to the Yankees. New York made contact on 31 of its 36 swings (86.11%), the third highest rate by a team facing Snell during his career, according to MLB.com. “He didn’t get away with any mistakes tonight,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said. “Pitching against that lineup, it’s tougher when you’re behind on them.” The Rays took a 3-2 lead into the fifth, but Snell surrendered it on homers by Kyle Higashioka and Aaron Judge. He wasn't awful, but Snell still had his worst statistical start of the season on the biggest stage. He matched his regular season highs while allowing six hits and four earned runs, and his two walks were one off his worst mark of the year. Snell pitched 5 2/3 innings of one-hit ball in his first start of this postseason against Toronto last week, but the Rays' left-handed star has never been dominant against the Yankees, Tampa Bay's unfriendly rival for AL East supremacy. The Rays were 8-2 against New York in the regular season and claimed their first division title since 2010. With his first chance to face the Yankees in the postseason, the 2018 AL Cy Young Award winner couldn't bamboozle a disciplined, patient lineup with his fluid array of curves and sliders. The Yankees have showed impressive discipline at the plate during this brief postseason against two of the AL's top breaking ball pitchers. They had just 13 swing-and-misses at Cy Young favorite Shane Bieber’s 105 pitches during the wild card series opener against Cleveland last week, and they maintained that plan in laying off Snell’s fearsome benders in Game 1. Clint Frazier homered on Snell's second-pitch fastball in the third inning right after resisting a low curveball. In the fifth, Higashioka calmly watched two curves before getting a fastball and driving it for his first postseason homer. Judge crushed a curveball moments later for the go-ahead homer, but that curve ended up belt-high across the middle of the plate. The Yankees didn’t really let it rip offensively until four innings after Snell left. Giancarlo Stanton’s grand slam punctuated the win, but the Yankees never had to play from behind in the late innings because of their fifth-inning success against Snell. ___ More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports