The Yankees' clean sheet record is over. Their losing skid is not.
For a team that has struggled to score one recently, it seemed insurmountable that he faced a three-point deficit in the first inning on Tuesday. It proved to be just that.
The Yankees crossed a run for the first time in his 22nd inning, but it wasn't enough in the Bronx where he lost 3–1 to the Rays.
The Yankees lost their 11th in their last 13 games to the Rays ( 62-53) moved to second place in the AL East within nine games. This marks his smallest lead in the Yankees' division since June 15th.
In the first inning he hit a three-run home run before Nestor his Cortez rebounded to hit his seventh inning strong. But the Yankees (72-45) have been giving pitchers little room for error lately and were unable to make a comeback on Tuesday.
After losing consecutive shutouts, the Yankees recorded his 22nd streak clean sheet in the fifth inning, finally defeating Schneid. Andrew Benintendi hit a one-out triple off the right-center field wall and scored on Miguel Andujar's chopper to third base that Yandi Diaz couldn't handle. He cut the Rays lead to 3-1.
Isaiah his Kynar Falefa came next and did a 10-pitch walk, making the Yankees hope for a bigger rally his cooking. But Merwin Gonzalez poured cold water on it when Rays lefty Jeffrey Springs forced him into an inning-ending double play.
The Yankees gave him an extra chance in the seventh, but it missed. Josh Donaldson singled to lead off and moved to second on Jose Trevino's ground ball. Benintendi came next and charged into the crowd with a high-fly ball to right field, which fell into the grab of Randy Arrozarena on the caution track. Miguel Andujar then struck out to get the chance.
Aaron Judge said he had two outs in the eighth inning and Graber had a chance to add to the MVP case with Torres batting at first base. However, the Rays brought in Jason Adam to ground the judges.
The Yankees then went quietly into his ninth inning, littered with boos after his out in the final.
The game got off to an ominous start for the Yankees as Cortez gave up. A pair of line drive singles to the first two batters he faced before Arrozarena smashed a one-out homer to left field to make the Rays 3–0.
Cortez calmed down from there and pushed through to the seventh. He retired 19 of the last 21 batters he faced, with four Donaldson fielding errors and six Harold Ramirez singles erased for stolen bases.