Slumping Yankees to lean on Gerrit Cole in encounter vs. Rays

If the New York Yankees hope to put a serious dent in the first-place Tampa Bay Rays' advantage in the American League East, it stands to reason that the right arm of starter Gerrit Cole will play a large part in it.

The six-time All-Star and unanimous 2023 AL Cy Young Award winner will take the ball for the Yankees on Wednesday night in the third contest of a four-game series vs. the Rays in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Cole (3-3, 4.01 ERA) has posted mixed results since coming back May 22 following Tommy John surgery last year. He began with scoreless starts against the Rays and Kansas City Royals, but his five June appearances were not nearly as promising.

Cole went 1-3 with a bulky 6.12 ERA as the opposition batted .286. He was peppered for 17 runs on 30 hits -- including seven homers -- with seven walks in 25 innings during that stretch.

In the Yankees' 5-2 win Friday over Minnesota, manager Aaron Boone wanted to remove Cole after a 53-minute rain delay, but the right-hander was having none of it.

"Yeah, he was definitely taking me out, and I definitely wasn't coming out," Cole said. "Screw coming back (from injury), man. I mean, we're in a rut, and we needed this win today. You gotta do hard stuff in this league sometimes. Sometimes it's not fun to sit around for an hour and 20 minutes throwing bullpens."

Cole is 5-7 with a 3.29 ERA in 21 career starts against the Rays.

After the Yankees slugged three homers for their only hits in a 5-1 series-opening win Monday, the Rays bounced back with a 6-4 victory on Tuesday to regain a four-game lead over the Yankees in the AL East.

Hunter Feduccia, Yandy Diaz and Victor Mesa Jr. each went deep for Tampa Bay.

The Yankees have struck out 34 times over two consecutive games for the first time in franchise history. Paul Goldschmidt, who is mired in an 0-for-30 rut, and Jose Caballero struck out four times apiece for New York, which has lost 10 of its past 12 games.

Tampa Bay's Griffin Jax (10) on Monday and Ian Seymour (12) on Tuesday each set a career high in strikeouts.

"We've been throwing the ball well," Rays manager Kevin Cash said after the victory. "It's been a pretty impressive stretch that we've been on. We've got guys who have good stuff, and when you're getting ahead of guys, all hitters are going to expand when they're in those 0-2, 1-2 situations."

Left-hander Shane McClanahan (7-5, 3.05 ERA) will get his turn Wednesday to attack New York's all-or-nothing approach at the plate.

McClanahan, 29, struggled with an 0-3 record and a 5.79 ERA in four June starts. He turned it around last Wednesday, firing six scoreless innings of three-hit ball in a 4-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals.

McClanahan is 1-4 with a 4.70 ERA in eight career starts against the Yankees.

--Field Level Media