Gerrit Cole, Yankees look to reboot season vs. Rays

Gerrit Cole's return from elbow inflammation in mid-June coincided with his New York Yankees' slide out of first place in the American League East amid some of their worst struggles of the season.

As the Yankees look to recapture their early-season form, they'll hand the ball to Cole for their first game after the All-Star break when they host the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday in the opener of a four-game series.

Cole (2-1, 5.40 ERA) made five starts after missing New York's first 75 games and experienced mixed results as he continued to build up his pitch count. Cole's most recent outing might have been his best so far as he allowed one run on five hits in six innings while getting seven strikeouts and throwing 106 pitches in last Friday's 4-1 win at Baltimore.

That performance also helped the Yankees head into the All-Star break with their first series win since taking three of four at Kansas City on June 10-13. The Yankees were three outs away from completing the sweep in the final game of the series before miscues by Anthony Volpe and Alex Verdugo led to a 6-5 loss after rookie Ben Rice hit a three-run homer in the ninth off Orioles closer Craig Kimbrel.

The loss was New York's 18th in 26 games since it reached 50 victories with an 8-1 win at Boston on June 14. The rough stretch saw the Yankees go from holding a 3 1/2-game lead atop the division to currently sitting one game back but also coincided with Baltimore going 13-14 heading into the break.

"It's been a rough several weeks here for us," New York manager Aaron Boone said. "The reality is, last couple of games in Tampa and going into there, I feel like we were competing our (butts) off and starting to turn the corner and see the signs we want to see as we turn this thing around.

"While acknowledging that, the other reality is, we're in a great spot. Even through some rough, rough stretches, it's all right there in front of us. We've got the pen, we get to write this amazing script, and that's because we've put ourselves in that position."

Cole is 4-7 with a 3.55 ERA in 19 career starts against the Rays, who are 5 1/2 games behind the Boston Red Sox for the third wild-card spot.

Tampa Bay took two of three at home from the Yankees July 9-11 and followed it up with a pair of 2-0 victories over the visiting Cleveland Guardians before the break -- despite going 1-for-33 with runners in scoring position in the series.

Since dropping to five games under .500 following their 9-2 loss at Atlanta on June 15, the Rays are 15-10 in their past 25 games to get back to even at 48-48.

"I like the way that we've played here the last month," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "Feel like we're a better version of ourselves right now."

If the Rays continue to perform better, it could determine what they do by the trade deadline. Among the possible trade candidates is the Rays' Zach Eflin (5-6, 3.99), who is facing the Yankees for the second straight start.

After earning consecutive wins over the Washington Nationals and Kansas City Royals, Eflin allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits in seven innings in a 2-1 loss to New York on July 10 to fall to 4-2 with a 3.86 ERA over 10 outings dating to May 7.

Eflin is 3-2 with a 1.50 ERA in seven career starts against the Yankees. He allowed three hits in six innings during a no-decision in Tampa Bay's 2-0, 10-inning win in New York on April 20.

--Field Level Media