ST. PETERSBURG -- The flip side of Nestor Cortes’ early season success at home has been difficulty on the road, a trend that continued with his first pitch on Saturday afternoon.

Yandy Díaz belted Cortes’ grooved fastball for a leadoff homer, then slumping slugger Randy Arozarena homered and drove in four runs as the Yankees fell to the Rays, 7-2, at Tropicana Field.

“It’s tough to pitch in this league without a fastball, that’s for sure,” Cortes said. “It felt like every time I’d try to throw a fastball in the zone, it was getting hit. I wasn’t able to establish it early, and that’s why when I would go back to it again, it was getting hit hard.”

Tampa Bay pulled away with three runs off reliever Dennis Santana as the Yankees fell for just the second time in their past eight contests.

Though Cortes has compiled drastic home-road splits through nine starts, the left-hander said the issues away from the Bronx haven’t been on his radar.

In four starts at Yankee Stadium this season, Cortes has gone 1-1 with a 1.59 ERA (five earned runs in 28 1/3 innings). In five away starts, Cortes fell to 0-3 with a 6.75 ERA (19 earned runs in 25 1/3 innings).

“Honestly, I haven’t even looked at it,” Cortes said. “I’ve just got to make the adjustment of being on the road and pitching. I feel the same; I prepare the same.”

Yankees manager Aaron Boone said that he sensed Cortes was struggling with his fastball command early Saturday.

“Early on, it just seemed like he had a hard time getting that fastball at the top rail [of the strike zone] like he normally does so well,” Boone said. “There were a lot of pitches that he shot up there that were getting away from him.”

That included the first pitch to Díaz, who said he walked to home plate ready to pounce on Cortes. Díaz is 12-for-30 (.400) lifetime off Cortes, with four doubles and three homers.

“He’s the type of guy I like to be aggressive to,” Díaz said through an interpreter. “He’s the type of pitcher that attacks the batters early, so I was just trying to take advantage and be aggressive early.”

Boone noted that Cortes seemed to adjust after Arozarena’s homer, retiring nine of the final 10 batters he faced.

“I felt like I was missing up and away a lot,” Cortes said. “I think it’s a little bit with my mechanics, with my delivery. I was able to fix that after the third inning. I was able to dial in more, and I felt like I had more on my fastball.”

High Volp-age
Anthony Volpe provided most of the Yankees’ offense, collecting three hits while driving in two runs. It marked Volpe’s 11th multihit game of the season and his first three-hit performance since April 14 at Cleveland.

“I feel good,” Volpe said. “I’m just trying to stick to my plan, stick to my approach and keep putting myself in positions to barrel up the ball. … When I’m doing what I’ve got to do and I’m covering the pitches I feel like I need to cover, then everything takes care of itself.”

Volpe’s single off Rays starter Zack Littell in the second inning brought in a pair of runs, but Trent Grisham was tagged out between second and third on the play, ending the inning. Had Grisham held at second base, Littell would have faced Juan Soto with two men on.

“Just a mistake,” Boone said. “I don’t think he saw the ball well off the bat, and was probably thinking maybe there was a play at the plate, which obviously there wasn’t.”

Deep center
The Yankees mounted a threat in the seventh inning, as Grisham was hit by a pitch and Volpe collected his third hit with a single that greeted Jason Adam.

Soto made a bid for a three-run homer by launching a deep fly to center field, one that was caught on the warning track by Jose Siri. According to Statcast, Soto’s 404-foot drive would have been a homer in 20 of 30 Major League stadiums, including Yankee Stadium.

Boone likened Soto’s flyout to a similar Aaron Judge drive in the sixth inning on Friday.

“After seeing Judge’s not going out yesterday -- two balls, 108 [mph] to that spot?” Boone said. “I mean, those are homers.”