Nestor Cortes' road struggles continued and the Yankees left 10 men on base as they fell to the Tampa Bay Rays, 5-4, on Thursday night at Tropicana Field.
After dropping the rubber game, the Yankees (56-39) have not won a series in eight straight chances.
Here are the takeaways...
-The first inning of Thursday's game was a signifier of what was to come for the Yankees. Alex Verdugo and Juan Soto led off the game with a single and double, respectively, to give New York a second and third situation with no outs.
Aaron Judge flied out but Verdugo was held up at third before Ben Rice and Gleyber Torres struck out to end the threat.
In the bottom half, Yandy Diaz hit a high fly ball to center but Trent Grisham could not track down the ball and it fell in for a double. The Rays asked for a challenge to see if it hit the catwalk, which would have resulted in a home run, but the call on the field stood.
Randy Arozarena followed the double with a two-run shot to give Tampa the early lead off of Cortes.
-The Yankees would tie the score up with solo shots from Austin Wells and Juan Soto, but Cortes could not keep the score that way. The left-hander would give up three runs in the third inning and was on the verge of giving up more in the fifth.
The Rays would load the bases on the southpaw with one out before Cortes was pulled for Michael Tonkin. The right-hander would get Jose Siri to ground into the inning-ending double play to keep the score 5-3.
Cortes' night finished with him pitching 4.1 innings (97 pitches/60 strikes) while giving up five runs on seven hits, two walks and one HBP. He struck out four batters.
-The Yankees had more chances to put up runs but failed to execute. In the fifth, they had the bases loaded with one out but Rice hit a sac fly before Torres lined out to right field. The offense would get another chance in the eighth when the Yankees had men on first and second with one out after a Rice walk and Torres singled. Jose Trevino, called on to pinch-hit against the lefty, was called out on strikes after two missed calls from plate umpire Edwin Moscosco -- pitching coach Matt Blake was tossed during a Rays pitching change. After Anthony Volpe walked the bases loaded, Grisham flew out to left field to end yet another threat.
Yet again, the Yankees had a chance this time in the ninth. Judge came up with men on first and second and one out after Oswaldo Cabrera and Soto walked, but he flew out to first base in foul territory. Rice lined a single to drive in his second run and bring up Torres with the chance to tie the game. However, the infielder hit a shallow fly ball between second and center field but Jose Caballero made an impressive over-the-shoulder catch to end the game.
Overall, the Yankees finished 1-for-9 with RISP and left 10 men on base.
Soto and Wells, who accounted for two of the four Yankees runs, had two hits each. Judge finished 0-for-3 with a walk and extended his streak of games without an extra-base hit or RBI to eight.
-Boone's lineup shakeup of batting Verdugo leadoff and Rice cleanup worked out better than yesterday when both players went hitless at the plate. Verdugo finished 1-for-5 while Rice went 1-for-3 with a walk and two RBI.
-The Yankees bullpen was superb again. The combination of Tonkin (1.2 IP), Jake Cousins (1 IP) and Caleb Ferguson (1 IP) pitched 3.2 scoreless innings, giving up just two hits and striking out seven batters.
Game MVP: Rays bullpen
Rays starter Shane Baz had an electric fastball that got him out of further trouble but the Yankees still scored three runs in his 4.1 innings pitched, but had little success against the bullpen.
Tampa used six different relievers to get the final 14 outs, allowing just one run and stranded a ton of runners.
Sure, the combination of Yankees ineptitude and poor officiating helped but it's hard to argue with the results.