Yankees squander brief momentum with crushing loss to Rays

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The impossible dream — back-to-back wins — will have to wait for another day.

The Yankees had a chance Thursday to win consecutive games and a series for the first time since the middle of June but, instead, accomplished neither.

Nestor Cortes turned in another rough start on the road and the Yankees squandered chances with runners in scoring position — especially late — as they fell to the Rays 5-4 at Tropicana Field for their 18th loss in their last 25 games.

After leaving the bases loaded in the eighth inning, the Yankees put together another rally in the ninth with one out and runners on first and second against Rays closer Pete Fairbanks.

Aaron Judge popped out in foul territory, but Ben Rice followed with an RBI single to pull the Yankees within a run and put Juan Soto, the potential tying run, 90 feet away.

Gleyber Torres then hit a bloop to no-man’s land in center field, but second baseman Jose Caballero came up with a snow-cone catch to end it as the Yankees finished the night 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base.

Since winning their last series, against the Royals June 10-13 (which was also the last time they won back-to-back games), the Yankees (56-39) have had a rubber game in six of their eight series and dropped all of them, making it difficult to create any kind of momentum to get out of their slide.

The Yankees’ saving grace during this stretch has been the Orioles going through their own skid leading into the teams’ showdown this weekend in Baltimore.

The Orioles were swept by the Cubs on Thursday, ensuring that their lead over the Yankees atop the AL East will only be two games entering Friday.

It looked like the Yankees might have a late comeback in them in the eighth inning, when they threatened against the Rays’ bullpen.

With runners on first and second and one out against lefty Colin Poche, Jose Trevino pinch hit for Austin Wells and worked a 3-0 count.

The next pitch appeared to be above the zone but was called a strike by home-plate umpire Edwin Moscoso, as was the 3-2 pitch that came in below the zone for a called strike three.

Pitching coach Matt Blake was ejected for arguing the strike zone from the dugout, though neither team was happy with Moscoso throughout the night.

Anthony Volpe came up next and drew a walk to load the bases, but Trent Grisham’s flare to left field held up just long enough to become the third out.

Cortes’ home/road splits only became more stark on Thursday as he turned in his latest rough start away from The Bronx, getting tagged for five runs across 4 ¹/₃ innings.

He has now made 10 starts at home, with a 1.81 ERA across 64 ²/₃ innings, and 10 starts on the road, with a 6.60 ERA across 50 ²/₃ innings.

Cortes’ short outing also ensured that none of the three Yankees starters in this series (joining Carlos Rodón and Marcus Stroman) completed the fifth inning.

While their bullpen put together a strong series, they were also taxed in having to cover 12 ²/₃ innings.

The Yankees wasted having runners on second and third with no outs in the first inning, but home runs from Wells and Soto tied the game at two by the third inning before the Rays retook off Cortes.