ST. PETERSBURG — Even in his home state, Nestor Cortes has struggled on the road.
The left-hander, a Hialeah, Florida resident, surrendered five earned runs on Thursday as the Yankees lost to the Rays, 5-4. In doing so, the Bombers failed to win their eighth straight series.
It didn’t take long for trouble to find Cortes and the Yankees, as Trent Grisham lost track of a Yandy Díaz flyball to leadoff the bottom of the first inning. A Trop Special with a 95% catch probability, the play resulted in a double after replay ruled out the possibility of a home run.
No review was required on the next ball put in play, as Randy Arozarena lined a two-run homer to left field.
Austin Wells and Juan Soto erased the Rays’ lead with solo homers off Shane Baz in the second and third innings, respectively. However, Cortes coughed up three more runs in the third.
Brandon Lowe helped Tampa retake the lead with an RBI single, which saw Alex Verdugo make an offline throw to the plate. An Amed Rosario double and a Jose Siri sac fly brought two more runs in.
The Yankees couldn’t get five frames out of their starters during this three-game set, as Cortes totaled just 4.1 innings on Thursday. He also allowed seven hits and two walks while striking out four over 97 pitches.
Cortes’ splits indicated that a rough night awaited, as he entered the outing with a 5.63 ERA over nine starts on the road this season. That included another poor performance at Tropicana Field on May 11, when Cortes gave up four earned runs and two homers over 5.1 innings in a loss.
It was then that Cortes was first made aware of his poor numbers away from Yankee Stadium, where he has a 1.81 ERA over 10 starts this season.
Cortes has not had particularly drastic home and away splits in his career, but the contrast has certainly been noticeable this year.
The Yankees’ lineup, meanwhile, added another run in the fifth when Ben Rice recorded a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded. The damage stopped there, though, and the Bombers wasted a golden opportunity to set an immediate tone after Verdugo and Soto opened the game with a single and a double.
Verdugo had a chance to score on Soto’s double, but he was held up at third base. An Aaron Judge flyball couldn’t get Verdugo home before Rice and Gleyber Torres struck out.
The Yankees also failed to score with the bases loaded in the eighth inning, which saw pitching coach Matt Blake get ejected for arguing balls and strikes after pinch-hitter Jose Trevino struck out looking.
Rice added an RBI single in the ninth, but that wasn’t enough after the Yankees went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
Now 56-39, the Yankees will take a second-place record into Baltimore, where they will close out the first half with a three-game series.
“Tough opponent going into the break,” Aaron Boone said, “but looking forward to getting up there.”
The O’s are atop the American League East, but they haven’t played their best baseball lately, either, losing three straight.
They will send Cade Povich to the mound on Friday. Gerrit Cole will start for the Yankees, recreating the pitching matchup from the ace’s first start of the season on June 19.
With Cole limited to 62 pitches and Povich only allowing one earned run over 4.2 innings, the Yankees lost that game, 7-6. They are 2-5 against Baltimore this season.