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.
That came as the result of what manager Aaron Boone said was a “strategic decision” on Caballero’s part, one that merited a dugout chat. The infielder said he was trying to stop chasing so many breaking balls and Boone said he “didn’t hate” the explanation; he had more issues with the rest of the game.
Paul Goldschmidt’s whiff to end the seventh inning marked 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.
“The performance tonight was terrible,” said Goldschmidt, who struck out in all four at-bats, extending the veteran’s skid to 0-for-30 dating to June 26 at Boston. “I’d like to try to be more positive than that, but you strike out four times and there’s guys on base -- it’s really just a bad performance.”
He’s hardly been alone. 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 5-1 victory over first-place Tampa Bay.
“I’m confident in our approach,” Boone said. “But we’ve got to get some guys on track right now. We’ve got some really good players that are going through a tough time right now. Part of our approach is being a tough out and being situational. We’ve got to do a better job of that right now.”
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.
“That’s a lot of strikeouts,” Bellinger said. “I knew we had 17 yesterday; I didn’t feel like we had that many today. But the Rays, they’ve notoriously got really good arms.”
Rays manager Kevin Cash called it “a pretty impressive stretch” for his team’s hurlers.
“We've got guys that have good stuff, and when you're getting ahead of guys, it shows a willingness -- all hitters are probably going to expand [their zone] when they're in those 0-2, 1-2 situations,” Cash said.
Despite the whiffs, the Yankees generated plenty of traffic with 11 hits, and they briefly held a lead, courtesy of Ben Rice’s three-run homer in the third inning.
Rice’s team-leading 26th blast came off right-hander Ian Seymour, leaving the yard on the same day Rice announced he plans to participate in the T-Mobile Home Run Derby next Monday in Philadelphia.
But with Seymour using what Bellinger called a “funky delivery” to strike out a career-high 12, the Yanks’ bats weren’t able to muster enough slug to cover Will Warren’s rough outing.
Hunter Feduccia and Yandy Díaz homered back-to-back in a four-run fourth inning off Warren, who allowed six runs on seven hits and two walks over four innings.
“I didn’t do a good job of landing my offspeed early, so they were selling out to the fastball,” Warren said.
A rare Bellinger miscue on the bases didn’t help. The All-Star lined a sixth-inning single that would have put runners at the corners with one out, but Bellinger rounded first too wide and was caught in no man’s land after a throw to third base.
“That should never happen, especially late,” Bellinger said. “That was a bad mistake, and really unacceptable.”
The Yankees had previously struck out 30 times in two-game spans, all over the past several seasons. They did it twice last year (April 1-2 nad Sept. 14-15), and also July 30-31, 2023.
“We’ve got some guys clearly going through it right now, and in a little bit of a funk,” Boone said. “They’re a little bit in-between, coupled with we’re facing good pitching. But at the end of the day, we’ve got to find a way offensively, especially the times when it’s challenging.”
Evaluating Goldschmidt’s at-bats, Boone said he sees him “behind some pitches” and also in-between on secondary offerings.
Goldschmidt said that while a performance like Tuesday’s is “not enjoyable,” he retained his confidence to the end -- hoping for Grisham to extend the game further in the ninth inning, which would have offered a chance at redemption.
“I’ve had games where I’ve struck out three times and got a hit or a home run in the last at-bat,” Goldschmidt said. “You’re telling yourself, ‘This next at-bat, I’m going to get the job done here.’ It’s not about just not striking out. You’re telling yourself, ‘I’ve got another shot to help us win this game.’”