Yankees get lift from Gleyber Torres return and trade, but lose again at Tropicana Field

Yankees fall 3-2 to Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday afternoon at Tropicana Field in rubber game of a series.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Yankees lost their starting catcher, got their second baseman back and added another star reliever this week in Tampa Bay.

What stayed the same is the Yankees’ struggles at Tropicana Field.

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The Yankees dropped another game and another series there Wednesday afternoon even though the Tampa Bay Rays made it another all-bullpen game after trading scheduled starter Nathan Eovaldi about an hour before the 12:10 start time.

This 3-2 Yankees setback left them 1-5 at the Trop this season and 3-9 there over the last two years.

This loss is on the offense, as it was held to seven hits by six Rays pitchers.

The Yankees lead the majors in homers, but they had none in the series, a three-game drought that is their longest of the season.

The return of rookie All-Star second baseman Gleyber Torres didn’t help on Wednesday.

After being on the DL since July 5 with a right hip strain, Torres was activated, got the start at second base and 0-for-3 with a walk, run scored and two strikeouts hitting in the fifth hole.

A night after making a trade with the Baltimore Orioles for reliever Zach Britton, the two-time All-Star didn’t join the Yankees for this matinee, as he’ll instead report on Thursday for the start of a four-game series at Yankee Stadium against the Kansas City Royals.

Until the Britton trip, Gary Sanchez’ laziness costing the Yankees’ in Monday night’s 7-6 loss and his surprise return to the DL on Tuesday after he denied being hurt were storylines of this summer visit to Florida.

Now that the series is over, the most important storyline is the Yankees’ lost two of three even though they got a good start on Wednesday from Luis Cessa.

Just back from Triple-A, Cessa was working on a two-hit shutout and leading 1-0 until the fifth when No. 9 hitter Adam Moore hit a leadoff single and Kevin Kiermaier followed with a two-run homer to put Tampa Bay in the lead.

In a move that was scheduled last week, Cessa was called up from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre before the game to take over an open No. 5 starter spot that opened when Domingo German was farmed out on July 21 with a 2-6 record and 5.68 ERA.

This two-run, 5 1/3-inning outing was the second good one in a row for Cessa, who came up for a spot start in Game 1 of a doubleheader in Baltimore on July 9 and worked six shutout innings in earning his first win since August 2016.

After Cessa departed one hitter after Kiermaier’s homer, Jonathan Holder came on and served up a solo homer to the second batter he faced, as DH C.J. Cron went deep to make it a 3-1 game.

The Yankees got a run back in the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Giancarlo Stanton.

The Yankees’ first run also came on a sacrifice fly, as Neil Walker’s second-inning flyout opened the scoring.

NOTABLE

— The Yankees optioned infielder Tyler Wade and reliever Giovanny Gallegos to Triple-A to create 25-man roster spots for Torres and Cessa.

— Centerfielder Aaron Hicks didn’t start for the second day in a row due to a sore shoulder that occurred on his hard slide into second on Sanchez’ game-ending groundball Monday, but he replaced Neil Walker as the DH in the seventh inning and was 0-for-2 with a strikeout.

— The Yankees put two on with one out in the ninth, but pinch-hitter Austin Romine fouled out to first and Brett Gardner struck out to end the game facing lefty Johnny Venters.

LOOKING AHEAD

Thursday: Kansas City Royals at Yankees, 7:05 p.m., WPIX. RHP Jakob Junis (5-10, 5.03) vs. RHP Sonny Gray (7-7, 5.34).

Friday: Kansas City Royals at Yankees, 7:05 p.m., WPIX. RHP Brad Keller (3-4, 3.20) vs. LHP CC Sabathia (6-4, 3.51).

Saturday: Kansas City Royals at Yankees, 1:05 p.m., YES. RHP Heath Fillmyer (0-1, 2.82) vs. RHP Luis Severino (14-3, 2.63).

Sunday: Kansas City Royals at Yankees, 1:05 p.m., YES. RHP Burch Smith (1-1, 5.58) vs RHP Masahiro Tanaka (8-2, 4.09).

Randy Miller may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.