Yanks keep 'missing opportunities' in another series loss

ST. PETERSBURG -- Jose Trevino was ready to toss his bat aside, believing he’d just seen a pitch sail high for ball four. The Yankees’ catcher was surprised when that offering was rung up as a strike, and even more shocked two pitches later, when he was punched out looking at a borderline offering.

As Trevino slammed his bat against the dugout bench, pitching coach Matt Blake was ejected, appearing to tell home-plate umpire Edwin Moscoso: “You missed two!” That was how the evening went for the Yankees, who dropped a 5-4 contest to the Rays at Tropicana Field on Thursday, accepting yet another series loss.

“Missing opportunities, that’s what I think it comes down to,” said captain Aaron Judge. “There was a lot of fight out of the guys, all the way to the end. We were having tough at-bats all the way down the stretch, and just weren’t able to come away with the win.”

Ben Rice trimmed the deficit with a ninth-inning RBI single, but the Yankees fell to 0-7-1 in their past eight series, remaining unable to win a set since taking three of four games from the Royals from June 10-13. New York has also been unable to win consecutive games over that span.

“Nobody is going to feel sorry for us,” Trevino said. “If anything, people want to see this. We’re the Yankees. People don’t care. If we win, [it’s], yeah, we should have won. If we lose, they like that. I think we will get back to where we were, and play with that chip on our shoulder.”

The decision to send Trevino up as an eighth-inning pinch-hitter against Colin Poche raised eyebrows, despite the apparent left-right platoon advantage.

The lefty-hitting Austin Wells was 2-for-3 with a home run already in the game, and Poche has struggled against lefties this season (1.032 OPS in 48 at-bats). Manager Aaron Boone said those stats seemed “a little bit wonky.”

Regardless, the manager believed that the outcome should have been different.

“I liked the ball five that Trevi ends up taking that ends up being strike three,” Boone said. “I just liked the matchup there.”

Said Trevino: “I probably should have hit the 3-1 [pitch], I guess.”

The Yankees fell into an early hole as Nestor Cortes’ road struggles continued. The left-hander was dented for five runs and seven hits over 4 1/3 innings, surrendering Randy Arozarena’s two-run homer in the first inning and run-scoring hits to Brandon Lowe and Amed Rosario in a three-run third.

Cortes fell to 0-5 with a 6.04 ERA in 10 road starts this season, compared to his 4-3 record and 1.81 ERA in 10 starts at Yankee Stadium. Those numbers have perplexed Cortes, who is aware of the discrepancy but has been unable to fix it thus far.

“I know it’s there,” Cortes said. “I haven’t had success on the road this year, but I don’t think much of it when I’m out there. I’m just trying to locate pitches, command pitches.”

Juan Soto also homered for the Yankees, though the superstar again grimaced after a strikeout in the seventh inning. Soto has been playing through a right hand injury, sustained on a slide into home plate on June 28 in Toronto, which the Yankees have described as a pain tolerance issue.

“If I hit the ball, I’m fine,” Soto said. “It’s whenever I swing and miss.”

Despite the ongoing issue, Soto said he plans to play in Tuesday’s All-Star Game at Globe Life Field.

“Why not? It’s a great experience,” Soto said. “Definitely, I’m going to be careful and try to take care of it.”

New York finished 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position, leaving 10 men on. They wasted two on with none out in the first, settled for a bases-loaded Rice sacrifice fly in the fifth and were turned aside with the bags full in the eighth, with Trevino rung up on strike three and Trent Grisham flying out.

Rice’s ninth-inning knock off Pete Fairbanks gave the Yankees hope, placing the potential tying run 90 feet away as Soto chugged to third base.

But Fairbanks induced Gleyber Torres to hit a shallow pop into center field, secured by shortstop José Caballero with a juggling grab. The Yankees challenged, but replay confirmed Caballero had made the catch, dropping the ball on the transfer out of his glove.

“Nobody likes losing,” Judge said. “Nobody is happy about it. We’ve just got to keep showing up, doing our thing. [The Yankees are] a couple of games out of first place. We’re going to play a first-place team right now. We’ve got to take these good at-bats into Baltimore.”