Bats let down Yankees in loss to Rays | Rapid reaction

The Yankees couldn’t break through against the lowly Rays in a 2-1 loss at Tropicana Field on Friday night, despite a strong-enough effort from CC Sabathia.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — If the Yankees want to avoid the dreaded Wild Card, they’re going to have to start to distance themselves from the Red Sox. To do that, they can’t squander any chances. 

So that means when 37-year-old CC Sabathia holds the lowly Rays to little production, the Yankees have to step on their necks.

Didn’t happen Friday.

Instead, the Yankees’ powerful offense went mostly quiet in a 2-1 loss to Tampa Bay at Tropicana Field on the rare night it was mostly filled.

Middle-of-the-order hitters Giancarlo Stanton, Didi Gregorius and Gary Sanchez combined to go 0-for-10.

They entered the night with their offense in a deep skid, having scored the 10th most runs in baseball in June but the third most in the whole season. Meanwhile, the Rays churned out 10 hits.

The loss dropped the Yankees to 50-23 — still the best record in the majors. They started the day two games ahead of the Red Sox in the American League East.

It also snapped their four-game winning streak. They’re 41-14 in their last 55 games and 7-7 in games in which they don’t hit a home run.

Make it close

The Yankees cut their deficit to 2-1 in the seventh.

With one out and runners on first and third base, Aaron Judge served a soft liner to shallow right field. That brought home Gleyber Torres, who had walked, and pushed Gardner to second. Gardner moved to third when Giancarlo Stanton grounded out to the pitcher. He was left there when Didi Gregorius grounded out to second base.

Twice the Yankees escaped bases-loaded jams — in the first inning and in the sixth.

Sabathia got Daniel Robertson to line out to second to end the first threat. In the sixth, reliever Adam Warren finished a 12-pitch at-bat with Jake Bauers by getting him to ground out to shortstop.

Wasted effort

Sabathia wasn’t close to at his best. Still, it was enough to keep the Yankees in the game.

Over 5 1/3 innings, Sabathia struggled with his control, walking just one batter but giving up nine hits. He struck out four.

He was coming off one of his best outings of the year, a 7 2/3-inning, three-run effort vs. the Rays that ended in a loss. He’s 1-2 in his last three starts but he’s gotten just five runs of support over that span.

Early deficit

The Rays struck first when Willy Adames’ line-drive single to right field brought home from third base Daniel Robertson in the fourth. Robertson had doubled with one out. 

In a wacky fifth inning, the Rays tacked on another run with C.J. Cron’s sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Matt Duffy. 

Duffy had reached when he hit a hard grounder that nailed Sabathia’s side and dribbled toward first base. Sabathia tried to get creative, sliding on his knees and flipping the ball to first baseman Greg Bird. It went over Bird’s head and into shallow right field, letting Duffy reach second. It was scored a hit and and error.

On the very next play, Wilson Ramos hit a high chopper to third base. Miguel Andujar charged it. It took a short hop and zoomed toward his glove side — except it missed his glove completely and Ramos was safe.

When Chron lifted his sacrifice fly, Stanton ranged far to his right and leaped at the wall to make a spectacular catch.

You should know

Luis Cessa made his first appearance since April 17, going on the DL immediately after with an oblique strain.

NEXT

Saturday: Yankees RHP Sonny Gray (5-4, 4.89 ERA) vs. Rays RHP Wilmer Font (0-1, 5.87 ERA in AL) at 4:10 p.m. at Tropicana Field.

Sunday: Yankees RHP Domingo German (2-4, 4.77 ERA) vs. Rays LHP Blake Snell (9-4, 2.48 ERA) at 1:10 p.m. at Tropicana Field.

Brendan Kuty may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.