NEW YORK (AP) — The slumping New York Yankees were shut out in consecutive games for the first time since 2016, losing to Ryan Yarbrough and the Tampa Bay Rays 4-0 on Monday night.
Coming off a 3-0 defeat Sunday night against the Boston Red Sox, New York failed to provide any run support for ace Gerrit Cole, whose only run allowed followed a misplay in center field by Aaron Hicks.
“Obviously we gotta play better, we gotta do better than that,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.
The AL East leaders were blanked for the fourth time in nine games and dropped to 8-16 since the All-Star break after a 64-28 start.
Yarbrough (1-7) pitched four innings as a bulk reliever for his first win in nearly a year, striking out six without a walk. He previously won Sept. 24, 2021 and had lost eight straight decisions over 14 appearances, matching the franchise record.
“It was nice,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “I think Yarbs has pitched really well here as of late. He probably deserves a little bit better in the win-loss column, but he’s contributing in a big way.”
The Yankees hadn’t been held without a run in back-to-back games since Sept. 22-24, 2016, when they were blanked once by the Rays and twice by the Toronto Blue Jays.
“Right now we gotta do better and it’s hard right now,” Boone said. “It’s hard and we gotta find a way. We gotta keep digging ourselves out of this.”
Hicks got turned around on the warning track and couldn’t field David Peralta’s flyball in the fourth inning, resulting in a triple. Isaac Paredes then singled off Cole (9-5) for a 1-0 lead, enough to get the Rays on their way to a third straight victory.
“First off, I turned the wrong way,” Hicks said. “I tried to recover. I ended up thinking it was still right…