After shooting Nick Nelson from this match in the Boone captured in the head of home plate umpire Chad Whitlock and had been pitched into a 9-2 defeat into the Rays that place the Yankees back where they had been when they began the string: in third position and 4 1/2 matches behind front-running Tampa Bay.
The Yankees grew frustrated Thursday that DJ LeMahieu, not known for losing his cool, contended with Whitlock following a called third strike in the eighth. LeMahieu subsequently went back into the dugout and slammed his helmet onto the bat rack -- despite the last strike call was right.
There were bad performances all about, in the Yankees not making runners in scoring position and yet another subpar outing from Gerrit Cole, who allowed five runs in five innings for the second time in four starts.
There was also terrible umpiring by Whitlock supporting the plate, offering a generous strike zone into Rays left-hander Ryan Yarbrough, who limited the Yankees to two runs in the complete game victory. The Rays had not had a whole game because 2016.
However, the Yankees had expected to gain ground on the Rays from the four-game show in The Bronx and neglected to do so.
