Yankees anemic offense flops again in latest loss to rival Rays

ST.PETERSBURG, Fla.

— For the first time in three games, the Yankees did not strike out 17 times Wednesday night, so there was that.Otherwise, their offense remained abysmal as their deficit in the AL East grew larger.Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Greg Joyce about the inside buzz on the Yankees.

The Yankees wasted a quality pitching effort from Gerrit Cole because the only thing they are doing consistently well of late is slumping together offensively, their latest collective dud resulting in a 3-0 loss to the Rays at Tropicana Field.After the Yankees had struck out 17 times in each of the first two games of this series, they whiffed just 11 times Wednesday, but still mustered just six hits (only three of which left the infield) as they were stifled by lefty Shane McClanahan and the Rays bullpen.They had just one hard-hit ball all night, coming on a Ben Rice groundout.In a game in which their frustration began to boil over some, with Aaron Boone and bench coach Brad Ausmus both getting ejected in the sixth inning, the Yankees (50-42) lost for the 11th time in their past 13 games while dropping to five games back of the Rays (54-36) for the AL East lead.They will try to salvage a series split Thursday afternoon, but that will be a difficult task against Tampa Bay All-Star Drew Rasmussen, who has pitched the Yankees tough (including 13 shutout innings this season) even when they are not going through a death spiral.The top four hitters in the Yankees lineup — Paul Goldschmidt, Rice, Amed Rosario and Cody Bellinger — went a combined 2-for-16.

Goldschmidt is now in an 0-for-34 skid after striking out three more times, giving him 10 punchouts over his past three games.Bellinger went 0-for-4 and is now in an 8-for-70 (.114) slump.Cole allowed three runs across 6 ¹/₃ innings while throwing 97 pitches, his most since returning from Tommy John surgery.

But even a shutout still wouldn’t have won t...