st. Petersburg, FL — There are games where physical and mental mistakes are incidental and insignificant.
Against a club off to a historic start, the Yankees had no room for error of any kind.
The Yankees burned out the Yankees in an 8-7, 10-inning loss at Tropicana Field on Sunday, wrapping up what could have been a winning series with a series loss.
The most obvious gaffe occurred in the 6th inning of a tied game.
Jimmy Cordero came in and walked Tampa Bay’s Jose Ciri, advancing the runners to second on a wild pitch.
Siri scores on errors, but mental ones.
Siri took off for third base and made a big jump.
Cordero delivered to Yandy Diaz, who hit a tapper between the mound and first base.
Cordero kept it and didn’t check Siri.
Cordero threw for a double to first baseman DJ LeMahieu, but Siri scored all the way from second base on a ball that flew several feet.
Manager Aaron Boone said of Cordero, “We need to be more mindful in that situation.” I had to do
Such a mistake (and a couple involving Gleyber Torres) is not optimal against the Rays, who became the seventh team since 1901 to win 19 of their first 22 home games.
Five times, Torres was charged with an error leading to an earned run.
As Diaz took the lead, Wonder Franco slammed his chopper over Lemahue’s head, allowing Torres to slip and stop him.
He got up and threw across the diamond to third baseman Oswaldo Cabrera, and Diaz tried to steal long base.
The throw short-hopped Cabrera, who was unable to come up with the ball, allowing Diaz to get up and score.
The Yankees’ 6-1 lead turned into a 6-2 lead, and the Rays took the lead next inning against Gerrit Cole.
Perhaps Cole was tired and an odd play a few innings earlier caused him to throw a few extra pitches.
In the second inning, with Harold Ramirez in the starting lineup, Manuel Margot hit a high chopper to Torres, who charged the ball in front of the second base bag.
He picked up the ball cleanly, but was placed too far on the grass to step on a base or tag Ramírez.
Everyone was safe.
Cole avoided the jam by retiring Christian Besancourt on three pitches, but he had to score an extra out in the inning to do so.
“Sure, tough teams will take advantage of mistakes,” Cole said. “In this situation, they did.”
