Aaron Boone had seen enough.
After taking Nick Nelson out of the game in the seventh, Boone got in the face of home-plate umpire Chad Whitlock and was tossed in a 9-2 defeat to the Rays that put the Yankees right back where they were when they started the series: in third place and 4 ½ games behind front-running Tampa Bay.
But even Boone knew a questionable strike zone wasn’t the reason the Yankees were unable to take the series from the Rays.
There was also another hitless afternoon Thursday with runners in scoring position and Gerrit Cole’s second subpar outing in his last four starts.
“The Rays outplayed us,’’ Boone said of the loss.
The Yankees grew so frustrated Thursday that even DJ LeMahieu, not known for losing his cool, argued with Whitlock after a called third strike in the eighth. LeMahieu then went back to the dugout and slammed his helmet on the bat rack repeatedly — even though the final strike call was correct.
A generous strike zone from Whitlock for Ryan Yarbrough helped the Rays left-hander limit the Yankees to two runs in a complete-game victory. The Rays hadn’t had a complete game since 2016.
Now they Yankees will face the Red Sox for the first time this season when Boston visits Yankee Stadium on Friday.
The Yankees actually had a brief lead on Thursday after Brett Gardner’s solo homer off Yarbrough with one out in the third. It was Gardner’s first home run against a left-hander since 2019.
But Cole gave it back in the fourth.
After a leadoff walk to Brandon Lowe, Cole whiffed Yandy Diaz. Austin Meadows then sent a 1-2 pitch out to right-center to put the Rays ahead, 2-1.
The Yankees were poised to answer in the bottom of the inning. Aaron Judge led off with a single, just missed by a sliding Kevin Kiermaier in center. Gio Urshela followed with a double to left to send Judge to third.
But Rougned Odor popped out to right before Clint Frazier struck out looking — with some help from Whitson — and Miguel Andujar went down swinging.
Cole faltered again in the fifth. A second straight leadoff walk and an infield single put runners on first and second with one out. Cole struck out Randy Arozarena, but Lowe singled to right. Frazier’s throw home went well up the third base line, allowing Mike Zunino to score and Lowe to get to second. Diaz singled two runs home with a base hit up the middle to put the Yankees in a 5-1 hole.
Cole noted his fastball command up in the zone wasn’t where he wanted it to be and that magnified some mistakes.
Kyle Higashioka provided Cole with some faint praise after the Yankees fell to 6-6 in the dozen games Cole has started this season.
“He wasn’t as bad as the line looks,’’ Higashioka said. “He made a lot of quality pitches. They happened to get the big hit in the right situations.”
Nelson took over for Cole in the sixth and gave up four runs in the seventh.
Afterwards, Boone continued to accentuate whatever positives he could find and look to the future — which he hopes is better than the present, since the Yankees, more than a third of the way through the season, are on pace to win 88 games.
“I think we’re competing well,’’ Boone said. “I don’t think we’re near where we need to be or where I think we’re going to get as a club. We’re not a complete product yet.”
They’d better hope not.