After a quiet Deadline, Yankees stay quiet on field

NEW YORK -- In explaining the Yankees’ relatively quiet Trade Deadline approach, general manager Brian Cashman said he was “forced into a double down,” believing the club would be best served by giving its current group more chances to turn around an underwhelming season.

Cross another day off the calendar. Carlos Rodón lasted just four innings and the bats were quiet until the end as the Yankees fell to the Rays, 5-2, on Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium.

“It’s on us as players,” Aaron Judge said. “We’re fully capable with the guys that we’ve got in this room to go out there and compete on a daily basis. The results haven’t come all year, but we’ve still got two months left of the season. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

New York has lost four of five games in what was expected to be a crucial stretch. It remains 3 1/2 games out of the third American League Wild Card spot.

“I know it looks bad right now. We understand that,” manager Aaron Boone said. “But we’ve got to find it from within now. It’s come and gone, and it’s on all of us to figure it out if we’re going to climb back into this thing.”

Coming off his first victory in pinstripes, Rodón struggled with his control, walking four and throwing a wild pitch while striking out five. He served up homers to Yandy Díaz and Randy Arozarena in a 97-pitch effort (63 strikes), permitting four runs on four hits.

Rodón said that the command of his fastball and slider were lacking. Boone felt Tampa Bay “outlasted” Rodón with several prolonged at-bats.

“They definitely made me work,” Rodón said. “They kept fouling off good pitches and made contact with good pitches. That’s just a good lineup. I wish I was a lot better than I was, that’s for sure.”

There was a fair amount of chatter in the hours before Tuesday’s game concerning the Yankees’ direction ahead of the 6 p.m. ET Trade Deadline. Even some players seemed to be guessing whether the club would be buyers or sellers.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa wondered aloud how he would transport his dog, Bella, if he were to be dealt. Harrison Bader half-jokingly asked two reporters if he was still a Yankee as batting practice concluded.

In moving to acquire only right-handers Keynan Middleton and Spencer Howard, Cashman cast a reluctant vote of confidence for an offense that has a batting average of .229 -- 29th in the Majors, ahead of only the Athletics (.223).

“We were aggressively trying to do more and be open-minded to a lot of things coming our way,” Cashman said. “But when the dust settled, we stayed the course with what we had. We felt that given the options that were available coming our way, this was the best play for us, with the team we had that is still within striking distance. Let’s try to find a way to figure our way through it, get ourselves in it and see what we can do.”

Judge said he did not interpret the front office’s relative lack of activity as a message to the clubhouse.

“If you get guys, you get guys. If you don’t, you don’t,” Judge said. “We’ve got to keep pushing forward and do what we need to do to set ourselves up for October. We didn’t quite make a lot of moves that people thought we would, but we as players, we’ve got to step up and do our job.”

And the time for that is now or never. The Bombers had no answers for Zach Eflin, who fired six scoreless innings, allowing three hits without a walk and striking out five. New York managed just one runner in scoring position against Eflin, produced by Jake Bauers’ sixth-inning double.

The lineup finally rustled to life against Colin Poche in the ninth, when four hits brought in a couple of runs while bringing the tying run to the plate.

Boone sent up Giancarlo Stanton, who had managed only three singles in 39 career at-bats as a pinch-hitter, explaining: “Just taking a shot with a big swing.” Facing Pete Fairbanks, Stanton struck out on four pitches.

Like Boone, Cashman gambled against the odds Tuesday. The next two months will determine if it produces a different outcome.