NEW YORK -- The Rays won’t determine their direction at the Trade Deadline based specifically on how many games they win over the next 10 days, or their win total when they wake up on July 30. There is no such “magic number,” president of baseball operations Erik Neander said Friday afternoon.

But as they embarked on a critical stretch coming out of the All-Star break, with the Majors’ toughest remaining schedule ahead of them, the Rays were 5 1/2 games out of the final American League Wild Card spot.

And that number, Neander acknowledged, has “got to get smaller.”

The Rays’ second-half challenge only grew more daunting, however, after a sloppy 6-1 loss on Friday night at Yankee Stadium. They went into the All-Star break on a high note, winning 14 of 23 games and seven of their past eight series, but losing the series opener against the Yankees dropped them back below .500 at 48-49.

“We've talked about there being an urgency to play better, and we have played better,” Neander said. “Now, we've just got to rip off a lot of wins with the games here right in front of us.”

But this key stretch got off to an uninspiring start.

Starter Zach Eflin had an off night, tying a career high with four walks as he allowed five runs (four earned) in five innings. The Rays’ defense committed three errors and a few other misplays. And their lone run came on a sixth-inning shot by Brandon Lowe, who claimed sole possession of fifth place on the franchise’s all-time list with his 115th career homer.

Eflin is one of the Rays’ potential trade candidates if the front office decides to focus more on 2025 than salvaging this season. He is appealing due to his reliable performance and reasonable contract, which includes an $18 million salary next year, and he could be made available (as starter Aaron Civale was) with the expected return of rehabbing Rays starters Jeffrey Springs and Drew Rasmussen.

So Eflin knows as well as anyone how crucial this stretch is.

“If we don't win, this team's probably not going to play together anymore,” Eflin said. “So it's something that we have to understand and go out there and play as hard as we can.”

Eflin’s second-half opener was uncharacteristic in several ways.

For one, the right-hander had been incredible against the Yankees, with a 1.50 ERA in seven prior matchups. Additionally, Eflin walked only nine of the 412 batters he faced during his first 17 starts, a Major League-best 2.2% walk rate. He hadn’t walked more than two batters in an outing since June 9, 2022, a 51-start streak that was tied for the seventh longest in AL/NL history since 1901, and his last four-walk game before Friday night came on Sept. 23, 2019.

But he felt he was “just a hair off” on some key pitches Friday night, and it eventually cost him.

Eflin walked Ben Rice to begin the third inning, allowed a bunt single to Juan Soto and walked Aaron Judge to load the bases. It seemed like Eflin might escape with just one run scoring on Alex Verdugo’s groundout, but then he walked Austin Wells to reload the bases.

It was only the third three-walk inning of Eflin’s career, with the others coming on May 21, 2019, and April 18, 2017. And Anthony Volpe made him pay, roping a curveball to left for a three-run double that made it a 4-0 game.

“On all those walks, I felt like I was missing [by] an inch or two. It's hard to be [ticked] at it,” Eflin said. “Not happy with it, but at the end of the day, I was missing by half an inch, an inch. They put some good ABs on me and capitalized when they needed to.”

Eflin didn’t get much help, either. A Soto double turned into a Little League home run in the fourth following a fielding error and poor throw by Randy Arozarena and a throwing error by Richie Palacios.

“Randy bobbled the ball and then airmailed the cutoff man. Richie's trying to make a play,” manager Kevin Cash said. “We just didn't make two good throws right there. We've been pretty good on defense here as of late. Tonight was not our best.”

And the Rays had no answers for Yankees ace Gerrit Cole, who struck out eight over six innings. Continuing a troubling trend, they once again came up empty with runners in scoring position. They finished 0-for-8 in those situations, bringing them to 8-for-86 (.093) dating back to July 5.

“I thought Cole did a good job in that game. He dominated us pretty well,” Arozarena said through interpreter Manny Navarro. “But I don't think we have anything to worry about. It's the second half. We need to go in and just continue with that same energy and just keep on going.”