ST. PETERSBURG -- The disgust was palpable as manager Aaron Boone walked to the mound in the eighth inning on Friday evening, seeing nine runs littered across the scoreboard, more runners still on the basepaths and a position player walking out to lob a few pitches.
Boone would later chew on the Yankees’ 9-0 loss to the Rays at Tropicana Field by saying that his team should be “pissed off and embarrassed,” adding that he hoped those nine innings represented their “rock bottom.” If it isn’t, everyone in that visiting clubhouse is in for a rough ride.
“I’m in charge of this team and what we’re going through right now,” Boone said. “I know better than anyone, there’s going to be hard moments and hard times. I do think the effort is there. I think the care is there. But we’ve set a much better standard in that room that we’ve got to start living up to.”
A six-run eighth inning made for torturous viewing; three runs charged apiece to Greg Weissert and Anthony Banda behind broken-bat hits, errors and bases-loaded walks before infielder/outfielder Marwin Gonzalez mercifully retired the side on a comebacker to the mound.
But even before that, hopes of a rally seemed remote as the club’s offensive doldrums continued. New York managed just five hits, unable to advance a runner to third base and accepting their sixth shutout in 25 games (since Aug. 6). The Yankees’ lead in the American League East fell to five games, their slimmest cushion since June 1.
“We’re still in first place, but I don’t want to hang my hat on that,” Aaron Judge said. “We can talk about games up and all that. All it takes is, we’ve got to bring it. We didn’t bring it tonight. They’ve got our number, but that’s why you play three games in a series. We’ll be here for three days; they got the first one.”
Adding injury to insult, the Yankees may have lost outfielder Andrew Benintendi for a considerable period. Benintendi, one of the club’s most significant additions ahead of the Aug. 2 Trade Deadline, felt what Boone described as “a pop” in his right wrist after a third-inning hack.
X-rays taken at Tropicana Field were negative, but Boone said that Benintendi is experiencing numbness in the fingers of his right hand. He will undergo an MRI on Saturday.
“He’s an important guy in our lineup right now, especially as we struggle as much as we are offensively,” Boone said.
Yankees right-hander Domingo Germán notched a quality start, holding the Rays to three runs (two earned) on six hits over 6 2/3 innings.
A pair of fourth-inning errors by third baseman Josh Donaldson set up Tampa Bay’s first run. Donaldson said he misread Harold Ramírez’s routine grounder on the turf, then double-clutched and threw wildly on a Randy Arozarena bouncer.
Rookie Oswaldo Cabrera -- inserted when Benintendi exited the game -- bailed out Donaldson by fielding the ball and making a strong throw to cut down Ramírez at home plate. David Peralta then cashed the Rays’ first run with a clean single.
“We need to do a better job of making things happen, and I’m speaking to myself, first and foremost,” Donaldson said.
Christian Bethancourt hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning off Germán, who has held opponents to five runs (three earned) over 20 2/3 innings in his last three starts.
“I'm not happy with myself,” Germán said through an interpreter. “I've got to say, in that lineup, I let that one guy beat me. I don't want to take credit from him, but I think he's the worst hitter in the lineup.”
With 51 homers cluttering his stat line and an American League MVP Award likely in his future, Judge refuses to consider that the walls could be crumbling in on this once-magical season. Asked what makes him believe that this team can turn it around, Judge pointed to the first few months of the calendar.
“These guys have done it,” Judge said. “We’ve done it all year, especially to stay in first place in this tough division we’re in. We’ve got everything we need here in this room. Nobody on the outside is going to help us; nobody is going to feel sorry for us. It just comes down to that attitude; if you’re not feeling good, a little banged up, you’ve got to bring it.”
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Yankees shut out by Rays in series-opening loss - MLB.com
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