Not even Gerrit Cole could save the Yankees from sinking further into the depths of despair.
The $ 324 million bait tried to play the role of stopper on Sunday and made a strong start, but the illegal offense still came up empty-handed when the Yankees dropped a fifth straight game and were swept by the Rays with a 4-2 loss in Yankee Stadium. .
The Yankees (5-10) collected just three hits when the Rays (8-8) still scored their number, improving it to 5-1 against the Yankees this season and 15-3 against them since September 2019.
The last time the Yankees won was Cole’s previous start Monday against the Blue Jays, but he could not get them out of their funk alone. He gave up three runs (earned two), while hitting 10 over 6 ¹ / nings innings, but was burned by a weak defense in a third innings of two runs before conceding in the seventh run.
Cole took the hill at 98 pitches to start the seventh innings in a 2-2 game, after retiring 12 consecutive batsmen. After Mike Brosseau struck, Joey Wendle led a single and Yoshi Tsutsugo tore a double point to the right midfield gap to set up the Rays 3-2 and end Cole’s day.
Wendle later took Darren O’Day deep into the ninth innings for an assurance.
Giancarlo Stanton gave the Yankees – as their worst start since 1997 – their first lead of the series in the second innings when he tore a solo home run to the short curtain in the right field. It was the first time the Yankees have led in 22 overs, dating from the sixth innings of Wednesday’s defeat to the Blue Jays.
It didn’t last long, however, as the Yankees gave it right up in third place, thanks to some expensive defensive gifts from their outfield. Mike Zunino took the lead in the first innings before hitting Kevin Kiermaier in midfield. Aaron Hicks cheated on Zunino and snapped as if he was going to catch it before it fell. He could have taken the power out of second place, but he bounced the ball and Zunino stabbed safely.
Yandy Diaz arrived next and grounded a game-equal RBI single to midfield, where Hicks could not clear it again, allowing Kiermaier to take third base. It was expensive when Manuel Margot hit a sacrificial fly to the left field for the 2-1 lead. Even the game did not go smoothly, as Clint Frazier fired the throw in no man’s land between the hill and the first base, allowing Diaz to record and slide safely into second place. But Cole was able to work out the jam at once.
The Yankees returned to tie it in the fifth innings, when Gio Urshela passed with a double lead and eventually on a two-out RBI single from DJ LeMahieu. But while the crowd on their feet is hoping for more, Aaron Judge strikes a few runners.
LeMahieu later got another chance to play a hero, and in the seventh inning sent a charge into the crowd with a volleyball to the right field, but it fell into Margot’s glove on the warning lane.