They had swung and missed so much that Rays catcher Mike Zunino likely departed Petco Park with a stiff neck from the strong Southern California breeze created by Yankee bats.
Deivi Garcia, the neophyte right-hander, was used in a surprising opener role and gave up a run in the only inning he pitched.
J.A. Happ admitted he would have preferred to start instead of entering the game in the second inning, but the left-handed starter-turned-reliever wished he could have done better.
Gary Sanchez went hitless in four at-bats and struck out three times. Jonathan Loaisiga allowed a runner he inherited from Adam Ottavino to score.
Thanks to two more Giancarlo Stanton homers that plated four runs, the Yankees had Aaron Judge at the plate in the ninth with two outs and the Rays holding a two-run lead with runners on first and third.
They had a chance to turn around a long, trying Tuesday night in San Diego. And then Judge ended the 7-5 loss with a ground-out to third that left the best-of-five ALDS tied at one game apiece.
Game 3 is Wednesday night, when the Yankees will start Masahiro Tanaka and the Rays counter with Charlie Morton.
Chances are the Yankees won’t whiff 18 times in Game 3 like they did Tuesday evening against four Rays pitchers. Starter Tyler Glasnow notched 10 strikeouts.
Aaron Boone explained that he used Garcia to open to offset the Rays’ platoon plans.
“Just because they are so good, the roster is built to a platoon advantage,’’ Boone said. “Felt like I was going to go to J.A. pretty early and aggressively as long as they went with the heavy lefty lineup. That was the reason.’’
Garcia, 21, gave up a two-out, bases-empty, opposite-field homer to right to Randy Arozarena to lower the Yankees into an early hole that Stanton matched with a homer to right off Glasnow in the second.
However, Happ gave up a two-run homer to Zunino in the second and another two-run poke to Manuel Margot in the third.
In 2 ²/₃ innings, Happ allowed four runs, five hits and walked three.
After admitting he was surprised by employing Garcia as the opener and him following, and explaining he would let Boone provide the details, Happ didn’t hide from his subpar outing. Nor did he attempt to make excuses for it.
Asked about a degree of frustration over how the night unfolded, Happ stuck to his performance.
“As far as I wish I could have performed better for sure,’’ said Happ, who hadn’t pitched in a game since Sept. 25. “I didn’t get into a groove. I give them credit for that, I think. Certainly hoping to give us a little more length. I am frustrated I didn’t perform. I am not going to make an excuse. I just plan to be better.’’
Austin Meadows’ solo homer off Loaisiga stretched the Rays’ lead to 6-4 in the sixth. Jonathan Holder and Nick Nelson providing perfect innings in the seventh and the eighth gave the Yankees a chance in the ninth.
And right-hander Peter Fairbanks flamed those hopes by walking Gio Urshela and Gleyber Torres to start the ninth. Fairbanks bounced back to strike out Clint Frazier and Sanchez in front of DJ LeMahieu’s RBI single. That got Judge to the plate, but his night ended with an 0-for-5 and three strikeouts.
“It’s just one loss and we will be playing again [Wednesday]. We got to come out hot and keep it going. It is just one loss,’’ Aaron Hicks said. “We got to be ready for [Wednesday].’’