Giancarlo Stanton’s two-run homer in 10th saves Yankees

TAMPA — Schlitt happens.

History did not, but neither did an awful loss, which the Yankees flirted with as much as Cam Schlittler did a perfect game.

After David Bednar blew a two-run lead in the bottom of the ninth, Giancarlo Stanton and Austin Wells homered in a chaotic 10th inning to save the Yankees and send them to a fifth straight win, 6-4, over the Rays on Wednesday night at Steinbrenner Field.

Stanton, pinch-hitting to lead off the top of the 10th, clobbered a missile of a two-run homer to left field off Pete Fairbanks.

Austin Wells made it back-to-back with his second home run of the night to provide some insurance for Devin Williams with a 6-3 lead.

Williams gave up a leadoff single that scored a run in the bottom of the 10th and then invited trouble by allowing a double that put the tying run at second.

But he responded by striking out Chandler Simpson, Yandy Diaz and Brandon Lowe in succession to record his first save since July 29.

It gave the Yankees (69-57) full steam ahead into a four-game set with the Red Sox back in The Bronx, with the Yankees moving within four games of the first-place Blue Jays in the division.

They lead the Red Sox by 1 ¹/₂ games and the Mariners by two games for the top AL wild-card spot.

On the same Steinbrenner Field mound where he flashed his potential this spring, reinforcing to the Yankees that he was leading the next wave of pitching prospects, Schlittler made a run at the record books Wednesday night by bringing a perfect game into the seventh inning.

Simpson broke it up with a clean single up the middle to lead off the bottom of the seventh, at which point Schlittler received an ovation from the sellout crowd of 10,046.

The 24-year-old, in his seventh career big league start, finished with 6 ²/₃ shutout innings with eight strikeouts as he dominated the Rays for most of the night with his high-90s fastball, a devastating curveball and enough of a presence with his cutter.

Once the Rays (61-66) broke up Schlittler’s perfect game bid, the attention turned to the Yankees clinging to a 2-0 lead that quickly became perilous.

But Luke Weaver relieved Schlittler with the bases loaded and struck out Feduccia on three pitches to put out the fire.

After Trent Grisham homered for the second time in the top of the eighth inning to put the Yankees up 3-0, Weaver gave up a solo shot to Bob Seymour in the bottom of the frame, giving Bednar a 3-1 lead to protect.

Bednar issued a one-out walk to Lowe and then gave up a single to Junior Caminero, which he followed with a strikeout.

But Feduccia prolonged the game by roping a two-out, two-strike double to the gap to tie the game at three.

Schlittler did not enter a three-ball count until after he gave up the first hit and there was one out in the seventh inning, when he did it to three straight batters.

The first turned into a walk of Lowe, putting the tying run on first base, before Schlittler came back to strike out Caminero on a full-count cutter.

But his 95th and final pitch of the night was a 100 mph fastball to Lowe that landed outside in a full count to load the bases.

At that point, Weaver entered from the bullpen to escape the jam.

Entering Wednesday, through his first six starts as a big leaguer, Schlittler had career highs of 5 ¹/₃ innings — which he did in his MLB debut last month — and 97 pitches.

But he was efficient enough through the early innings to give himself a chance at a special night.

He breezed through the first three innings on 28 pitches and before the seventh his single-inning high was 15 pitches in the fourth.

Schlittler only entered into three two-ball counts entering the seventh inning, pounding the strike zone early and often and not allowing much in the way of hard contact.