Will Warren, Yankees sluggish again in ugly loss against Rays to drop second straight series

Whenever trash day comes in The Bronx, the Yankees can toss most of Sunday’s game out to the curb.

But then after the Yankees finally made things interesting with an eighth-inning rally, Aaron Boone left himself open for second-guessing with his pinch hitting decisions on a day when he was managing with a short bench.

It was an all-around ugly day on which the Yankees struggled to pitch, catch or, until late, hit the ball as they dropped a second straight series with a 7-5 loss to the Rays on a dreary afternoon in The Bronx.

After Will Warren turned in another slog of a start that did not make it through the fifth inning, the Yankees (19-15) came alive late to tease a comeback before it fizzled for their fourth loss in the past six games.

Will Warren reacts during the Yankees’ loss to the Rays on May 4.

“It’s tough, especially a day like today, rubber match, a chance to win the series,” Aaron Judge said. “We kind of fell short, especially on the offensive side not really getting things going.”

The Rays (16-18) led 7-2 entering the eighth inning when Judge’s leadoff double sparked a rally that loaded the bases for J.C. Escarra with no outs in a 7-3 game.

Oswald Peraza commits an error during the Yankees’ loss to the Rays on May 4.

With Ben Rice and Austin Wells on the bench, Boone said he was going to either pinch hit for Escarra or Jorbit Vivas (who was on deck) but opted to go with Escarra’s experience — playing in his 11th career MLB game compared to Vivas’ third — which did not work out as the backup catcher grounded into a 1-2-3 double play.

“I’m choosing between Escarra and Vivas there,” Boone said. “I knew I had one shot with Rice there. … So no, not at that point with no outs. I was going to use [Rice] for Vivas.”

Boone was limited in what he could do because the Yankees were staying away from Anthony Volpe (shoulder) at all costs. If Boone had pinch hit for both Escarra and Vivas, then he would have had no one to play second base in the top of the ninth.

But after Escarra hit into the double play, Vivas hit for himself and delivered his first career hit, a two-run single that pulled the Yankees within 7-5.

Rice then pinch hit for Oswaldo Cabrera and worked a four-pitch walk, but Oswald Peraza grounded out to end the threat.

Boone could not pinch hit Wells for Peraza because then he would have had nobody to play shortstop with Volpe down and Pablo Reyes already out of the game.

As it was, Escarra had to move from catcher to third base for the top of the ninth, though that could have been avoided if Wells or Rice had just pinch hit for Escarra and Vivas and Cabrera hit for themselves.

Will Warren delivers a pitch during the Yankees’ loss to the Rays on May 4.

In the end, the Yankees fell to 0-11 when trailing after the sixth inning this season.

“It’s tough, but this team, we battle with the best of them,” Judge said. “We got faith in everybody in this lineup, up and down. We know what we’re capable of doing. That’s where we were able to rally in the last couple innings. We gave ourselves a chance in the ninth, but we just couldn’t get that one guy on to see if we could get some magic going.”

Cody Bellinger hits a home run during the Yankees’ loss to the Rays on May 4.

Jasson Domínguez can’t field a ball during the Yankees’ loss to the Rays on May 4.

The Yankees were in a 5-0 hole by the fourth inning as Warren continued experiencing growing pains.

The young right-hander got tagged for five runs (three earned) on seven hits and three walks across 4 ²/₃ innings. He struck out a career-high eight, but that served as little consolation on a day when his ERA grew to 5.65 and he failed to complete five innings for the fourth time in seven starts.

Yankees bats, meanwhile, were held in check early by right-hander Taj Bradley, who followed a strong start by Zack Littell on Saturday. Cody Bellinger broke up the shutout in the sixth inning with a two-run shot, his 200th career home run making it a 5-2 game, but it wasn’t enough.

“That’s what [the Rays] do,” Boone said. “You look at the arms they run out against you, starting and relief, you got to be able to win some low-scoring games too. They held us down pretty well this series. Liked the way we battled today to work our way back in it with being really short today, but obviously a tough series where they were able to hold us down enough to get a couple.”