​St. Petersburg, Fla. – Any lingering momentum from Monday’s stirring Yankees victory vanished on Tuesday night, undone by seventeen more strikeouts. The hero of Monday, Jose Caballero, who launched two home runs, endured four strikeouts, matching Paul Goldschmidt, who has gone a full 30 at-bats without a hit. In a two-game set against the Rays at Tropicana Field, the Yankees have whiffed 34 times in 69 plate appearances, a troubling trend against the team perched atop the AL East.
“Tonight, especially, was terrible,” Goldschmidt admitted of his own performance, leaving four baserunners stranded in the Rays’ 6-4 victory. He preferred to stay positive but labeled it a bad night all around. An equally rough evening for the Yankees wasn’t limited to Goldschmidt; Will Warren lasted just four innings and surrendered a season-high three homers, Caballero’s early pop turning into a string of strikeouts, and Cody Bellinger contributing a baserunning blunder that dampened a potential rally.
Yet there is a silver lining in the stranded momentum: the Yankees managed to split the first two games of this four-game set, having won Monday on three home runs from Caballero and collecting three hits in that victory. Gerrit Cole is lined up to start Wednesday, offering a chance to reset. Still, the Rays counter with pitchers Shane McClanahan and Drew Rasmussen on Wednesday and Thursday, a tough challenge as New York’s hitters look to reverse a season-long slump that hit its peak after Aaron Judge went on the injured list with a rib fracture and Giancarlo Stanton followed with a calf strain, removing two of the lineup’s most productive presences and reducing the balancing power in the middle of the order.
The Rays, meanwhile, have reason to push their advantage. They can further extend their lead in the AL East and clinch the head-to-head season series, having already won five of seven against the Yankees with six games left in the schedule. On Wednesday night, a trio of Yankees relievers did what they could to blunt the Rays, keeping the Rays from adding excessive damage after Warren’s rough start. They held the Rays in check after that early rough patch, though the damage had already been done by the fourth inning when Hunter Feduccia and Yandy Díaz hit back-to-back homers to break the game open for a four-run frame.
The Yankees will need more from their bullpen and more consistency from a sputtering lineup if they hope to turn this series around. Ben Rice provided a spark with a three-run homer in the third inning off left-hander Ian Seymour, who struck out 12 on the day, continuing a troubling pattern for New York where even their best at-bats don’t always translate into decisive runs. The Yankees must find a way to string together productive at-bats, rescue their lineup from the current drought, and regain the offensive balance that once made them a dangerous challenger in the division. With Judge and Stanton presumably nearing their returns, the club remains hopeful that the lineup can reclaim its form in time to keep pace with a Rays team intent on extending its AL East lead.