ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — For the first time in three games, the Yankees did not strike out 17 times Wednesday night, so there was that.
Otherwise, their offense remained abysmal as their deficit in the AL East grew larger.
The Yankees wasted a quality pitching effort from Gerrit Cole because the only thing they are doing consistently well of late is slumping together offensively, their latest collective dud resulting in a 3-0 loss to the Rays at Tropicana Field.
After the Yankees had struck out 17 times in each of the first two games of this series, they whiffed just 11 times Wednesday, but still mustered just six hits (only three of which left the infield) as they were stifled by lefty Shane McClanahan and the Rays bullpen.
They had just one hard-hit ball all night, coming on a Ben Rice groundout.
In a game in which their frustration began to boil over some, with Aaron Boone and bench coach Brad Ausmus both getting ejected in the sixth inning, the Yankees (50-42) lost for the 11th time in their past 13 games while dropping to five games back of the Rays (54-36) for the AL East lead.
They will try to salvage a series split Thursday afternoon, but that will be a difficult task against Tampa Bay All-Star Drew Rasmussen, who has pitched the Yankees tough (including 13 shutout innings this season) even when they are not going through a death spiral.
The top four hitters in the Yankees lineup — Paul Goldschmidt, Rice, Amed Rosario and Cody Bellinger — went a combined 2-for-16.
Goldschmidt is now in an 0-for-34 skid after striking out three more times, giving him 10 punchouts over his past three games. Bellinger went 0-for-4 and is now in an 8-for-70 (.114) slump.
Cole allowed three runs across 6 ¹/₃ innings while throwing 97 pitches, his most since returning from Tommy John surgery. But even a shutout still wouldn’t have won the Yankees the game.
Through five innings, the Yankees had as many hits (two) as Rays star Jonathan Aranda had run-scoring hits against Cole.
Both of the Yankees’ hits had come with one out in the second inning, on Jasson Domínguez’s infield squibber and Anthony Volpe’s bloop single.
But Max Schuemann came up next and dropped down a bunt to the pitcher, which Domínguez got a late break on from third and was easily thrown out at the plate.
Austin Wells then worked a 3-1 count before popping out in foul territory to end the threat.
Aranda, meanwhile, staked the Rays out to a 2-0 lead.
After Yandy Díaz (4-for-4) roped a one-out double off the top of the left field wall in the bottom of the third, Aranda battled Cole for a nine-pitch at-bat that ended in a single that scored Diaz for the 1-0 lead.
Then in the fifth, No. 9 hitter Nick Fortes and Díaz hit back-to-back one-out singles before Aranda drilled a double off the base of the wall in right-center field to make it 2-0.
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McClanahan retired 10 straight batters into the sixth inning, when José Caballero led off with a bunt single. But he was soon erased on a strike ’em out, throw ’em out double play with Goldschmidt providing the whiff.
The Yankees tried to challenge the play at second, but did so too late, which resulted in Boone and Ausmus getting tossed by home plate umpire Doug Eddings.
