ST. PETERSBURG – The Yankees have never struck out more in consecutive games than they have the past two nights, and their most perplexing one was easy to identify: José Caballero dropped his bat in the second inning before the pitch even crossed home plate.
There was plenty of competition for second place. Paul Goldschmidt’s whiff to end the seventh inning was the club’s 31st in the past two games, establishing a franchise record they’d rather not have claimed in their 6-4 loss to the Rays on Tuesday evening at Tropicana Field.
Goldschmidt struck out in all four at-bats, extending the veteran’s skid to 0-for-30 dating to June 26 at Boston. But there has been plenty of swing and miss throughout the lineup, coming one night after the Yanks struck out 17 times while hitting three homers in a victory over first-place Tampa Bay.
Cody Bellinger and Caballero later struck out in the eighth inning, and Trent Grisham went down swinging to end the game, swelling New York’s two-game total to 34.
Ben Rice launched a three-run homer in the third inning, briefly giving the Yanks a lead. Rice’s team-leading 26th blast came off Rays starter Ian Seymour, and it left the yard on the same day Rice announced he plans to participate in the T-Mobile Home Run Derby next week in Philadelphia.
With Seymour striking out a career-high 12, the Yanks’ bats weren’t able to muster enough slug to cover a rough Will Warren outing, which included back-to-back homers surrendered to Hunter Feduccia and Yandy Díaz in a four-run fourth inning. Warren allowed six runs on seven hits and two walks over four innings.
The Yankees have previously struck out 30 times in two-game spans, all over the past several seasons. They did it twice last year (April 1-2, Sept. 14-15), and also July 30-31, 2023.