ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Yankees wasted no time snapping their scoreless streak Friday night.
An offense that spent Wednesday and Thursday being as cold as the air in The Bronx did not instantly heat up in a warmer climate, instead dropping a third straight game as the Yankees fell to the Rays 5-3 at Tropicana Field.
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In all, the Yankees mustered just five hits, which was four more than they had on Thursday.
But still over their last three games, they have recorded just 10 hits.
After Amed Rosario’s RBI triple made it a 2-0 game in the top of the first inning Friday — the two runs ending a 17-inning scoreless drought — the Yankees did not record another hit until Ben Rice led off the eighth inning with a pinch-hit home run that pulled them within 5-3.
Their only two baserunners in that span were Paul Goldschmidt, who drew a walk and was hit by a pitch, but never got past first base.
The Yankees then made a late threat in the ninth inning, when they led off with back-to-back singles. But Jazz Chisholm Jr. grounded into a fielder’s choice, Randal Grichuk (staying in to bat right-on-right versus Bryan Baker) struck out and pinch-hitter Trent Grisham popped out to end it, leaving runners on second and third.
While the last two offensive duds before Friday wasted quality pitching, Luis Gil was just OK in his season debut, allowing three runs on three hits and three walks across four innings in which he had to throw 88 pitches.
Gil grinded for much of the night in his first start after being the odd man out of the Yankees’ four-man rotation to begin the season.
The right-hander spent much of the spring trying to rediscover the form that made him the American League Rookie of the Year in 2024, which led to him starting the season in the minor leagues to keep his workload built up for Friday.
The Yankees quickly got on the scoreboard against Rays left-hander and ex-Met Steven Matz in the top of the first. Aaron Judge smoked a one-out single to left field, stole second and took third after an error on the play, and then came home to score on Cody Bellinger’s sacrifice fly.
The Rays helped out some more before the inning was over. After Giancarlo Stanton walked, Amed Rosario hit a sinking liner to left field that Chandler Simpson tried to make a sliding grab on.
But he came up well short of the ball as it bounced off the turf and way over his head, rolling all the way to the wall, allowing Stanton to score on Rosario’s “triple” that made it 2-0.
Gil quickly gave those runs right back, though, in the bottom of the first. After getting two quick outs, he walked Jonathan Aranda before leaving a slider up to Yandy Diaz, who belted it the other way for a two-run homer that tied the game.
Before the inning was over, Gil had to throw 32 pitches, then expended another 22 in the second inning as the Rays took the lead. A one-out walk — on a 10-pitch battle by Taylor Walls — came back to hurt after the Rays executed a perfect hit-and-run that put runners on the corners. The speedy Chandler Simpson came up next and beat out a double play, scoring Walls from third for the 3-2 lead.
Gil helped himself out in the fourth inning, when the Rays threatened to add on. They had runners on the corners with one out when they attempted a safety squeeze, but Nick Fortes’ bunt went right to Gil, who flipped it home in time for the out.
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But the Rays were able to pad their lead in the sixth inning instead, aided in part by Brent Headrick’s fielding error. After a leadoff double, Walls laid down a sacrifice bunt that Headrick bobbled, putting runners on the corners. One out later, Simpson singled to center to make it 4-2.
Camilo Doval then came in to face Junior Caminero, who hit a bloop to right field that Aaron Judge, playing deep, took a step back on before charging and having it fall in front of him to load the bases. That allowed the Rays to extend the lead to 5-2 on Aranda’s groundout.
