'That's awful': Cole shoulders blame after blowing 6-0 lead

ST. PETERSBURG -- Gerrit Cole has been close to automatic at the top of the Yankees’ rotation this season, so a victory seemed to be a lock when Anthony Rizzo and Harrison Bader belted early homers to help fill the right-hander’s back pockets with a six-run cushion.

Nothing has been coming that easily for this team, though. Cole couldn’t spot his secondary pitches and coughed up the advantage, serving up his first two homers of the season as the Yankees fell to the Rays, 8-7, in 10 innings on Sunday afternoon at Tropicana Field.

“That’s awful,” Cole said. “I’ve got to find a way to do a better job to get us out of there and get us a little bit deeper and prevent the runs. The lack of command really burned us, and balls over the plate were touched.”

The Yankees absorbed their first walk-off defeat of the year with right-hander Albert Abreu on the mound, as Isaac Paredes singled home Brandon Lowe with the winning run. It marked New York’s first loss when leading by six or more runs since Sept. 10, 2019, at Detroit, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Having lost two of three in a weekend series in which each game was decided by one run, New York jets home sitting 10 games back of Tampa Bay in the American League East race.

“We’re obviously fighting, and a little beat up,” manager Aaron Boone said. “It’s difficult when you play pretty well and lose two out of three to a division rival. But we’re getting there.”

In the top of the 10th, Aaron Hicks bolted from third on Gleyber Torres’ grounder, instructed to run on contact. Hicks first believed he had been tagged by pitcher Garrett Cleavinger (who sustained a right knee injury on the play); no call was made by home-plate umpire Will Little, and Hicks attempted to score before being tagged by Paredes.

“I felt a lot of contact,” Hicks said. “I took a glance at the umpire and he still hadn’t said anything, so I just got up and tried to get home. I was on contact right there, so as soon as Gleyber’s getting ready to swing, I’ve got to get ready to go. About halfway, I realized I was pretty dead, so I just tried to stay in a rundown.”

Jose Siri and Christian Bethancourt belted homers off Cole, who navigated his first 51 innings without permitting a long ball after topping the AL with 33 homers allowed last year.

Siri cleared the center-field fence with a solo shot in the fifth before Cole permitted all four men he faced in the sixth to reach base. Harold Ramírez and Paredes stroked back-to-back doubles, and Manuel Margot walked before Bethancourt slugged a game-tying homer to center.

“I haven’t been able to pinpoint it, but I know I didn’t have great leverage in those counts,” said Cole, who saw his ERA tick from a Major League-leading 1.35 to 2.09. “I wasn’t really dictating when I needed to throw strikes in those situations, and I didn’t throw quality strikes.”

Boone said that he regretted a slow hook on Cole.

“In hindsight, I probably should have gotten him,” Boone said. “He’s our ace, and he’s been so good managing situations this year. Even in the outings where he’s had a little bit of trouble, I feel like he’s done a great job navigating.”

Yandy Díaz knocked in a run with a sixth-inning groundout off reliever Jimmy Cordero, who failed to check Siri on the basepaths; Boone said that Cordero needed “to be more aware in that situation” with the speedy Siri on second. Jose Trevino responded with a run-scoring groundout in the seventh.

Playing in front of a crowd of 32,142, the largest regular-season gathering at The Trop since 2016, Rizzo hit a solo homer and Bader belted a two-run shot -- his second homer of the series -- off Rays reliever Josh Fleming in the third inning.

“Overall in this series, we showed up to play,” Rizzo said. “We were right there with them. We feel like we could have walked away with three of these games.”

Hicks and Torres added run-scoring doubles in the fourth; the knock marked Hicks’ first extra-base hit of the year. Hicks said he has been “feeling better at the plate; I’ve been making better contact.”

New York had been 7-0 in Cole’s starts this season. The rivals meet at Yankee Stadium for a four-game series beginning Thursday.

“The guys picked me up so huge today, making this a competitive game all the way to the 10th,” Cole said. “They did a fantastic job offensively, continuing to put good swings and have good at-bats. I let them down today.”