ST. PETERSBURG – It had been 638 days since the Yankees last set foot inside Tropicana Field, having played the role of good neighbors by yielding the keys to their spring ballpark in Tampa as the Rays repaired hurricane damage, including a complete roof replacement.
Surveying a brighter but familiar Trop on Friday, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said the place looked “great,” and so did their early performance – a couple of first-inning runs that snapped a 17-inning scoreless streak, including an Amed Rosario triple that rolled to the left-field wall.
But despite Ben Rice launching the first pinch-hit homer of his young career, a change of scenery didn’t cure their offensive woes. Even under room-temperature conditions, the bats remained mostly chilled in a 5-3 loss to the Rays, New York’s third straight defeat.
“We’ve got to hit,” catcher Austin Wells said. “We’ve got to take pressure off these guys on the mound. They’re doing a great job for us. We’ve got to string some at-bats together, hit a couple of big ones and get rolling.”
After Cody Bellinger lifted a first-inning sacrifice fly and Rosario’s triple bounced over the head of a sliding attempt from left fielder Chandler Simpson, Steven Matz settled in to strike out seven over five solid innings.
Tampa Bay’s bullpen did the rest, save for Rice’s blast in the eighth, which barely cleared a leaping attempt by Cedric Mullins against the center-field wall.
“I didn’t think it was going to go out,” Rice said. “When he came down on the ground, I really wasn’t sure. I don’t think he was intentionally deking, but I definitely had to pause and wait to look at the umpire to see if it was a homer.”
Despite a lineup that has stalled, the Yanks aren’t pushing the panic button – even with a team batting average that now resides at .201, with only the Mariners and White Sox lower.
“I don’t think there’s any concern,” Rice said. “We’re so early in the year, and of course, we got off to a hot start as well. I think everyone is very calm here and understands there’s a long road ahead. We’ve got the team that can take us to where we want to go.”
It hasn’t helped that their early success with the Automatic Ball Strike system (ABS) – which catching coach Tanner Swanson called “very unsustainable” – has leveled out. The Yanks have lost 10 of their past 14 challenges since April 4.
“We’re told to be aggressive and use them,” Wells said. “There’s been some really, really close ones that haven’t gone our way, but I think that’s just the game.”
Boone acknowledged that Friday’s lost challenges – by Jazz Chisholm Jr. in the fourth inning and by José Caballero in the fifth – were “probably not great.”
“There’s going to be ebbs and flows of that,” Boone said.
Tampa Bay hung three early runs on Luis Gil, denting the right-hander in a season debut he called “a battle.”
Yandy Díaz clubbed a two-run homer and Simpson reached on a run-scoring fielder’s choice against Gil, who began this season back in the Minors with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
It was a demotion prompted by early off-days, which permitted the Yankees to bypass their fifth starter until now – an explanation that Gil said he accepted, even if he wasn’t particularly enthused about it.
“They told me, and I took it easy,” Gil said through interpreter Marlon Abreu. “I kept with my routine and kept working so that I could stay on pace to come back up here and pitch today.”
Simpson and Jonathan Aranda knocked in sixth-inning runs to extend Tampa Bay’s lead. The Yanks threatened in the ninth, with Giancarlo Stanton and Rosario opening the inning with singles off Bryan Baker.
Chisholm beat out a potential double-play ball, and with a nod toward Baker’s reverse splits, Boone allowed the right-handed Randal Grichuk to bat. Grichuk struck out before pinch-hitter Trent Grisham popped out to end it.
“We’ve got to get some guys clicking and obviously get that big hit,” Boone said. “We’re not hitting a ton of long balls right now. … It’s going to happen sometimes from the offense. They’ll get it rolling and some people will pay the price.”