Yankees starting pitcher Gerrit Cole reacts after giving up a run in the fifth inning of New York’s 5-2 loss to Toronto on Saturday in New York. Noah K. Murray/Associated Press
NEW YORK — The offensively challenged New York Yankees made plenty of noise Saturday.
Just not with their bats.
Ace Gerrit Cole twice banged the dugout roof, shouting in frustration and getting booed after a rough inning. After a 15th loss in 19 games, 5-2 to Toronto, manager Aaron Boone pounded the podium with his right hand while talking about his team’s struggles.
“We can ask all these questions in regards (to our slump) until we’re blue in the face,” Boone said. “We got to go out and do it. I got to quit answering questions about this date and this perplexion. We got to play better, period. And the great thing is right in front of us. It’s right here and we can fix it.”
“It’s there and we can run away with this thing and we got the dudes in there to do it and we got to do it,” he said.
The AL East-leading Yankees fell to 9-20 since entering the All-Star break with a 64-28 record. After holding a 15 1/2-game bulge on July 8, their margin over second-place Toronto is down to seven games.
The Yankees have lost six straight series for the first time since 1995, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Held to just 21 runs in its last 11 games, New York will try to avoid a four-game sweep on Sunday.
Cole (9-6) hadn’t allowed a hit before the Blue Jays scored four times in the fifth. After he issued a walk to Danny Jansen and misplayed a grounder, Alejandro Kirk capped the burst with a two-run double that left fielder Andrew Benintendi couldn’t quite catch.
When the inning ended, fans booed Cole and television cameras picked up the right-hander, yelling, and punching the bottom of the dugout roof with both hands.
Cole blamed himself for the walk and fielding lapse.
“I feel bad about it if we weren’t in the rut that we were, but I’d still feel bad about it,” he said.
The reaction from portions of the crowd of 45, 538 were similar to Cole with boos increasing after Toronto went ahead and intensifying after the final out.
“We’re not winning,” said slugger Aaron Judge, who batted third for the fourth time this year. “I think anytime you don’t win boos are warranted.”
TIGERS 4, ANGELS 3: Tyler Alexander pitched six strong innings and Detroit’s bullpen finished off a win at home Los Angeles.
The Tigers had lost two straight and 10 of 12.
Alexander (3-7) allowed three runs on seven hits and a walk in six innings, notching his first win in eight starts this season. Detroit’s bullpen then pitched three hitless innings, with Gregory Soto throwing the ninth for his 23rd save.
Los Angeles’ Reid Detmers (4-4) took the loss, allowing four runs on 10 hits in 4 1/3 innings.
RAYS 5, ROYALS 2: Drew Rasmussen took a no-hit try into the sixth inning in his first start since making a serious perfect game bid, and Tampa Bay won in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Rasmussen, who lost his perfect game last Sunday when Baltimore’s Jorge Mateo opened the ninth with a double, walked MJ Melendez leading off the Royals first.
Melendez got the Royals’ first hit when he lined a single into center past Rasmussen with one out in the sixth. Bobby Witt Jr. doubled before Ramussen’s final batter, Salvador Perez, hit a sacrifice fly.
Rasmussen gave up two runs, two hits and one walk along with eight strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
METS 8, PHILLIES 2: Starling Marte got three hits and visiting New York kept up its season-long dominance of Philadelphia, topping Zack Wheeler and the Phillies in the first game of a day-night doubleheader.
The NL East-leading Mets have won 13 of 17 from their division rivals this year while outscoring them 89-50. New York improved to 6-2 at Citizens Bank Park in that span.
Michael Perez broke an 0-for-19 slump with a two-run single in the fifth inning to start the scoring. Francisco Lindor added an RBI triple in the sixth against Wheeler (11-7), a former Met.
Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil both added two hits for the Mets.
CUBS 6, BREWERS 5: Willson Contreras hit an RBI single to cap a two-run rally in the 11th inning and Chicago kept coming back, winning at home for its fifth straight win.
Contreras had a two-run homer in the fifth. He hit his third home run in three games and 20th this year — the three-time All-Star is the first Cubs catcher to go deep 20 times in four seasons.
The Cubs scored once in the ninth to tie, once more in the 10th to keep it even and finally won in the 11th.
Patrick Wisdom doubled home automatic runner Nico Hoerner to make it 5-all. Wisdom was later thrown out at the plate trying to score on Nick Madrigal’s grounder, but Contreras singled off Peter Strzelecki (1-1) to end it.
Erich Uelmen (2-1), the Cubs fourth reliever, got four outs.
NOTES
RAYS: Tampa Bay ace Tyler Glasnow threw 20 pitches in his first live batting-practice session since undergoing Tommy John surgery a little over one year ago.
The 2021 Opening-Day starter faced hitters at the Rays’ spring training complex in Port Charlotte, Florida.
Rays Manager Kevin Cash said it “went well,” but noted that the sweltering summer temperature may have frustrated him. Earlier in the week, Glasnow said he was looking forward to pitching in the heat on the road.
Glasnow went 5-2 with a 2.66 ERA in 14 starts last year before having surgery on Aug. 4, 2021.
There is a chance the 6-foot-8 Glasnow will return before the regular season ends.
CUBS: Chicago placed right-handed starter Keegan Thompson on the 15-day IL with low back tightness and recalled righty Anderson Espinoza from Triple-A Iowa.
The 27-year-old Thompson leads the Cubs in wins with a 9-5 record and 3.97 ERA in 25 games. He has made 17 starts since joining Chicago’s rotation on May 11.
Manager David Ross doesn’t believe Thompson’s injury is serious, but said it affected the righty on Friday against Milwaukee when he allowed five runs – all from home runs – in 3 2/3 innings in a second straight shaky start.
ASTROS: Slugger Yordan Alvarez was held out of the lineup for Saturday’s game against the Braves after being taken to a hospital the previous night because of shortness of breath.
Manager Dusty Baker said doctors weren’t able to find any cause of the breathing issues. Alvarez was at the ballpark but under a concussion-like protocol where the team was monitoring his every move.
Baker said Alvarez could return to the lineup for the finale of the three-game series Sunday.
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