Not even Gerrit Cole could save the Yankees from sinking into the depths of despair.
The $ 324 million ace tried to stop Sunday and gave a strong start, but the fighting offense remained empty as the Yankees gave up a fifth straight game and were swept away by the Rays with a loss of 4-2 at Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees (5-10) got just three hits as the Rays (8-8) continued to have their numbers, improving to 5-1 against the Yankees this season and 15-3 against them in September 2019.
The last time the Yankees won was Cole’s previous start on Monday against the Blue Jays, but he couldn’t get them out of funk on his own. He gave up three runs (two wins) while hitting 10 over 6 innings / 6 innings, but was burned by a weak defense in a third half two innings before giving up the starting half in the seventh .
Cole took the mound at 98 pitches to start the seventh half in a 2-2 game, after withdrawing 12 consecutive beats. After Mike Brosseau broke out, Joey Wendle lined up a single and Yoshi Tsutsugo broke a double to the center-right goal to lift the Rays 3-2 and end Cole’s day.
Wendle later took Darren O’Day deep into the ninth inning for an insurance race.
Giancarlo Stanton gave them the Yankees – the worst start since 1997 – their first lead of the series in the second half, when he broke a lone run on the short porch in the right field. It was the first time the Yankees had led in 22 innings, dating from Wednesday’s sixth loss loss to the Blue Jays.
It didn’t take long, though, as the Yankees played him right at the top of the third, courtesy of a few costly defensive blunders on their field. Mike Zunino knew he was in trouble after pulling back an opponent. Aaron Hicks tricked Zunino into pretending to catch her before she fell. He could have put the force away, but the ball went wide.
Yandy Diaz then came on and set up a single RBI that equalized in the center, where Hicks again couldn’t launch it cleanly, allowing Kiermaier to take third base. This proved to be costly when Manuel Margot hit a sacrifice fly on the left field for 2-1. Even that play didn’t go smoothly, as Clint Frazier threw the throw into anyone’s ground between the mound and the first base, allowing Diaz to tag himself and slip into the second safely. But Cole managed to get out of the block with a blow.
The Yankees returned to a tie in the fifth inning, when Gio Urshela led with a double and eventually scored on an RBI single from DJ LeMahieu. But with the crowd standing, hoping for more, Aaron Judge hit to block a pair of runners.
Later, LeMahieu had another chance to play hero, sending a crowd charge with a flying ball to the right field in the seventh inning, but fell into Margot’s glove on the warning court.