NEW YORK _ Aaron Boone didn't set the bar exceedingly high in laying out his expectations for Luis Cessa on Wednesday night.
"Expect him to give us a chance to win," Boone said. "Hopefully, he can get us into middle innings and we take it from there."
Instead, it was Cessa taking the Yankees down with him, unable to complete even four innings in a 6-1 loss to the Rays in front of an irritated Stadium crowd of 42,716.
Cessa was in the rotation while CC Sabathia recovers from right knee inflammation that is supposed to keep the lefty out just one start. He allowed five runs and seven hits. Cessa (1-3, 5.60) was booed off the mound after allowing Mallex Smith's two-run homer with one out in the fourth that put the Yankees (75-45) in a 5-1 hole.
The surprising Rays (61-59), who improved to 8-6 against the Yankees, had four pitchers control the Yankees, who had only five hits. Jake Faria started and allowed one run and three hits in 3 1/3 innings. Ryan Yarbrough (11-5) allowed two hits in four shutout innings and earned the win.
Tampa took a lead it wouldn't relinquish in the second. After former Yankee Ji-Man Choi led off by stinging a grounder right at Didi Gregorius, Kevin Kiermaier doubled to left. Cessa struck out Willy Adames swinging on a fastball but Brandon Lowe collected his first big-league hit, dumping a first-pitch fastball to left, the RBI single making it 1-0. Michael Perez nearly added to that, driving one to right, but Neil Walker, again getting the start there, robbed him of at least a double and possibly a homer with a leaping catch at the wall.
Miguel Andujar quickly tied it in the bottom half, leading off by hammering a 3-and-1 fastball to left-center for his 19th homer. That gave Andujar, the leader among MLB rookies with 54 extra-base hits, his fifth homer in his last nine games and 18 RBIs in his last 18 games. Andujar came into the night 40 for his last 118 (.339) with eight doubles, six homers and 19 RBIs.
The Rays came right back. Smith, who had three hits, and Matt Duffy opened the inning with singles and moved up a base on a wild pitch. Jake Bauers worked a walk to load the bases before Cessa responded by striking out Joey Wendle on a curveball in the dirt. Choi followed with a ground smash that looked like a hit but Gregorius made a diving stop, turning it into a 6-4 force play that did get Smith home for a 2-1 lead. Kiermaier got ahead 2-and-0 before ripping a single to center, making it 3-1.
After Faria pitched around a one-out single by Brett Gardner in the third, the Rays jettisoned Cessa in the fourth. Perez singled with one out and Smith jumped on a first-pitch slider and sent it into the second deck in right, ending Cessa's night as Jonathan Holder came on.
The Yankees blew a scoring chance in the bottom half. Gregorius led off with a walk and, after Andujar flied to the track in center, Greg Bird walked, bringing an end to Faria's outing. In came righty Chaz Roe, who promptly hit Walker with a 1-and-2 slider to load the bases for Austin Romine. The catcher, who homered Tuesday, struck out on three pitches. Ronald Torreyes, recalled from the minors Monday, trickled one to third and was called safe, but the Rays challenged and the call was overturned, wiping out the run.
The Rays added on against Sonny Gray in the fifth. Choi doubled with one out and came in on Lowe's two-out single to right, which made it 6-1.
