ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi played with and worked with many current and future Hall of Famers, but the stretch rookie catcher Gary Sanchez is producing is something else.

"It's hard to believe what this young man has done in a short period up here," Girardi said. "You watch, and he just continues to come up with big hit after big hit. ... I haven't seen anything like it."

Sanchez hit two more home runs Wednesday, giving him 19 in 45 games, the fastest any player reached that total in major league history. He reset his career high with five RBIs as the Yankees rolled to an easy 11-5 win against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field.

That win, combined with Baltimore's loss to the Boston Red Sox, leaves the Yankees 2 1/2 games back of the second American League wild-card position with 11 games to play. New York (79-72) finishes the season at home against the Orioles.

Sanchez didn't hit his first home run until August, but his total is now the highest for any Yankees rookie since Kevin Maas had 21 in 1990. Girardi said the catcher deserves consideration for AL Rookie of the Year honors.

"I think you have to think about it. I really do," Girardi said. "I know people are going to argue he's only been here two months, but those two months have been as good as it gets."

Sanchez started the scoring with a first-inning RBI single. He added a three-run home run in the second and a solo home run in the sixth, continuing his ridiculous tear at the plate. New York jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first two innings, then held off the Rays (64-87), who inched back with five solo home runs.

The Yankees made a winner out of Masahiro Tanaka (14-4), who gave up four home runs to make the game interesting. Rays starter Alex Cobb (1-1) got only four outs and gave up nine hits and seven runs in a rough outing.

"I have to be thankful I'm healthy," said Cobb, who is four games into his return from Tommy John surgery. "I'm definitely going to go through some difficulties ... Eventually I'll be back to my old self, but that's not right now. It's never easy to walk off the mound in the second inning."

Brad Miller hit two of the Rays' homers, giving him 30 for the year. The Rays had only eight hits on the night, so more than half were home runs.

New York added three runs in the ninth, getting an RBI single from Mason Williams and a two-run home run from Donovan Solano, his first since 2014.

The Yankees pounced on Cobb, who entered the game having held the Yankees to a .187 average in his career, the lowest mark for any pitcher in history with 10 or more starts against New York. Wednesday was a much different matter, however, as the Yankees had nine hits in their first 14 plate appearances in building a 7-0 lead.

"You look at it as a whole -- one inning can destroy your peripheral vision, so you have to look at the rehab as an entire season," Cobb said.

Brett Gardner singled to lead off the game. Jacoby Ellsbury walked, and then Sanchez, Brian McCann and Ronald Torreyes each had RBI singles for a 3-0 lead in the first on four hits.

The second was actually worse for Cobb, as Solano and Gardner singled to open the inning, then the red-hot Sanchez hit a three-run home run -- his fourth straight game with a home run -- for a 6-0 lead.

McCann followed with a single, and Mark Teixiera doubled, so Cobb was done. Reliever Steve Geltz gave up a sacrifice fly to Didi Gregorius to make it 7-0.

The Rays made things interesting in the third off Tanaka, hitting four solo home runs in the inning. Bobby Wilson hit his seventh home run to start the comeback, and then the Rays went back-to-back-to-back, with Evan Longoria (36), Miller and Corey Dickerson (22) all hitting home runs off Tanaka.

NOTES: The Rays will place OF Steven Souza on the 60-day disabled list on Thursday. He underwent hip surgery in Nashville on Wednesday. Tampa Bay will select the contract of INF Juniel Querecuto from Double-A Montgomery, adding him to the 40-man roster. He would be the seventh Rays player to make his major league debut this season. ... Rays 1B Logan Morrison was to have wrist surgery in Orlando on Wednesday, but that was postponed due to a scheduling conflict. ... 1B Mark Teixeira hit his 204th home run as a Yankee on Tuesday, moving past Roger Maris (203) and tying Robinson Cano (204) at 14th on the Yankees' all-time list. His next will tie him with Dave Winfield.