ST. PETERSBURG — The Yankees once-monumental lead in the division is unraveling faster now. The Bombers committed three errors and were shut out Friday night by the surging Rays 9-0 at Tropicana Field. Tampa Bay cut the Yankees lead in the American League East to its smallest margin since June 1.
The Yankees are now 11 games under .500 since July 2, when this slide began. They are 15-26 since the All-Star break and 8-12 in their last 20 games. The Rays have gone 18-8 since August 3, when the Bombers held a 15-game lead in the American League East. With the win, the Rays closed the gap to five games in the division, four games in the loss column.
“They’re right, right behind us. They’re fighting for the division as well,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of the Rays before Friday night’s game. “So I think anytime you’re facing divisional opponents, there’s an importance on it. It’s that time of the year, September pressure’s part of it. And hopefully it’s something that is tough to continue to go through and not win at the clip that we want. Hopefully this is something that serves us well moving forward, playing with a little bit of a lot of adversity we’ve had over the last month.”
The Yankees were shut out for the 12th time this season, the sixth time in the last month. They had their chances, but with a depleted lineup, they went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position. They are without Anthony Rizzo, who had an epidural to try and stop the nagging back pain that has limited him in the second half of the season. They lost Andrew Benintendi, arguably their best contact hitter, to a wrist injury during the game. DJ LeMahieu is dealing with a toe issue that bothers him when he swings and hasn’t had an extra-base hit since Aug. 6. Giancarlo Stanton is 3-for-26 since coming off the injured list. Gleyber Torres is hitting .189 in the second half. Aaron Judge has carried the offense, but it’s easier for teams to pitch around him when nobody else is a threat.
Boone, however, is still optimistic about this team.
“When I do look out on the horizon, there are exciting things that are going to potentially be integrated back into our team that, if we’re playing our best baseball, we feel like we can beat anyone,” Boone said. “So we have to get to that point.”
They didn’t Friday night.
Domingo German was good for six innings, but Boone kept him in after walking Isaac Paredes to face Christian Betancourt. The Rays’ catcher crushed a changeup to the left-center field fence. German allowed two earned runs on six hits and two walks, He struck out one.
Betancourt admired the shot for a moment, flipped his bat over toward his dugout and trotted around the bases. As he turned second base, he found a quiet Yankees dugout.
It only got quieter as the Rays piled on. The Rays scored two on a Greg Weissert throwing error. Anthony Banda walked two more in and gave up a two-run single all in the eighth. Marwin Gonzalez had to come in and get them out of the inning.
There had been chirping between the teams beginning in the fourth when Josh Donaldson popped out. Heading back to the dugout, he cut in front of Rays starter Jeffrey Springs, forcing him to step aside. After Springs retired the side, Donaldson challenged Springs to throw him a fastball from the dugout. Springs shot back, he threw him three and laughed as he walked off the field. Donaldson went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. Springs scattered four hits, walked three, struck out seven in 5.2 innings pitched.
In the bottom of the inning, Donaldson committed back-to-back errors, a fielding error and a throwing, setting up the Rays’ first run. Only a tremendous play and throw by Oswaldo Cabrera from right field saved the Bombers from being down two runs.
Cabrera had to come in to finish the at-bat for Andrew Benintendi in the third inning. The left fielder swung and missed on a pitch and immediately felt something in his right hand/wrist area. The Yankees announced the X-Rays on his wrist were negative , but Benintendi will undergo an MRI on Saturday.
Benintendi had been arguably their second-most productive hitter behind Aaron Judge amid the Yankees offensive swoon. Benintendi was hitting .292/.327/.458 with two homers and a .785 OPS over the last 14 days, which encompasses most of this dismal road trip.
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Originally published at Tribune News Service