A 6-0 lead should have been more than enough to beat the Rays, especially with Gerrit Cole on the mound. But little has gone well for the Yankees outside of their ace this year, and Cole finally contributed to a sorry stretch that he had otherwise only interrupted with a dominant run until Sunday’s 8-7 series finale loss against the first place Rays.
Cole surrendered his first two home runs of the season, the first coming off the bat of No. 9 hitter Jose Siri in the fifth inning. Cole had gone 51 innings without giving up a longball to open the season after leading the American League in dingers last year, but Siri’s shot was only of the solo variety. However, the Rays added another run on a fluky play involving Gleyber Torres and Oswaldo Cabrera, and more trouble followed in the sixth.
First, Isaac Paredes’s RBI double cut the Yankees’ lead to three. It then evaporated altogether when Christian Bethancourt, the Ray’s No. 8 hitter, crushed a three-run homer off Cole to straightaway center. The blast knocked Cole out of the game, and he completed just five innings while tallying five earned runs, two walks and six strikeouts.
Cole’s ERA rose from 1.35 to 2.09 in the process.
But the Rays weren’t done scoring in the sixth, as Jimmy Cordero failed to look Siri back on a chopper to the first base side of the mound. Siri, who took off from second and never stopped, scored on the throw to first — and barreled over the home plate ump in the process.
The Yankees tied the game in the seventh, but the Rays walked it off in the 10th when Paredes singled off Albert Abreu.
The Yanks had a chance to take the lead in the 10th, but a chaotic contact play involving Aaron Hicks failed to produce a run.
The Yankees’ losing effort spoiled home runs from Anthony Rizzo and Harrison Bader, as well as RBI doubles from Torres and Hicks. Hicks’ was his first extra-base hit of the year.
Josh Fleming, the Rays’ bulk man, gave up six earned runs in the game.
Having blown a chance to take a needed series from a division rival, the Yankees return home Monday to begin a series against the Athletics, another last place team — though a far worse one.
Nestor Cortes is scheduled to start the opener against former teammate JP Sears. Clarke Schmidt will oppose Drew Rucinski on Tuesday, while Jhony Brito and Kyle Muller are Wednesday’s probable starters.