Yankees waste good outing by Gerrit Cole, leave 13 on base and see Aaron Boone get tossed again in loss to White Sox

CHICAGO — While discussing the Yankees’ relative inactivity at the trade deadline last week, general manager Brian Cashman said he ultimately felt it was in the club’s best interest to “stay the course” with the current roster.

Stay the course they have.

With their offense again in stall mode, the Yankees flushed another good outing by Gerrit Cole in a 5-1 loss to the White Sox on Monday night in front of 27,574 at Guaranteed Rate Field.

The Yankees (58-55), who twice loaded the bases with none out and once with one out and scored all of one run, went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position and left 13 on base. That brought their LOB total to 28 in the last two games.

The loss to Chicago (46-68) dropped them 5 ½ games behind the Blue Jays for the American League’s third and final wild-card spot and into last place in the AL East. “We had our chances tonight and just couldn’t capitalize,” Aaron Boone said.

Boone’s frustration boiled over in the eighth. Anthony Volpe was called out on strikes by plate umpire Laz Diaz, prompting Boone’s AL-leading sixth ejection of the season (and first since July 2 in St. Louis). Boone stormed out of the dugout to continue screaming at Diaz, at one point drawing a line in the dirt well to the right of the plate, a reference to some of the pitches the Yankees felt were outside but were called strikes. Boone also mimicked (mocked isn’t too strong a word) Diaz’s pull-back called third strike mechanic.

“It started [early],” Boone said of his anger. “Like Gleyber’s first at-bat, he ends walking on what I felt like was about six balls, and it just continued all night.”

But none of Boone’s performance should obscure the performance of the offense, which drew six walks in the first three innings and seven in four innings against White Sox righthander Dylan Cease a day after failing to take advantage of 12 walks.

Cease, who entered the game 4-5 with a 4.61 ERA, held the Yankees hitless for 5 1⁄3 innings before DJ LeMahieu singled to knock him out.

And though Boone didn’t shy away from criticizing Diaz, a former Marine who is generally liked by players and coaches in the game but can give as good as he gets when it comes to on-field arguments, the manager didn’t lay the blame solely on the strike zone.

“Look, it’s on us to still break through,” Boone said. “It’s not on the umpiring.”

The Yankees’ run came on Billy McKinney’s sacrifice fly in the seventh, but that was all they could manage from a bases-loaded, none-out situation. LeMahieu was called out on strikes and Harrison Bader struck out swinging to end the inning.

The Yankees also picked up three straight none-out walks in the second and three straight one-out singles in the sixth and were unable to score each time.  It was the first time since April 2016 that the Yankees stranded  at least 12 runners in consecutive games. 

White Sox first baseman Andrew Vaughn hit a two-run homer off Cole in the second and robbed Jake Bauers of an extra-base hit with two outs in the sixth that prevented two and possibly three runs from scoring. With pitcher Brent Honeywell slow to cover as Vaughn dived toward the line for the ball, he got up, made a short sprint for the bag and, sliding feet first, touched it a half-step ahead of Bauers for the third out.

Did Bauers think Vaughn had a play on the ball off the bat? “Not when I hit it, no,” he said. “But it looked like he was playing on the line there, made a good play and beat me to the bag.”

Cole, who came in 10-2 with a 2.64 ERA, the lowest mark in the AL, was charged with four runs and five hits in seven innings-plus. After Cole allowed two singles to begin the eighth, Tommy Kahnle ruined his pitching line, misplaying a sacrifice bunt, allowing a sacrifice fly by Andrew Benintendi and giving up a two-run double by Luis Robert Jr. to make it 5-1.

“Just a tough night out there,” said Cole, who walked two and struck out three, his fewest strikeouts in a game since striking out two May 23 against the Orioles. “Just couldn’t put enough good pitches together in the eighth. Just battled all game.”

Of the 5 ½-game deficit for a playoff spot, Cole said clearing that obstacle is “doable.”

“Mounds are different sizes,” he said. “The goal is just to get to the top. So whatever it takes.”

Said Bauers: “There’s a lot of talent in this clubhouse. It’s no secret things haven’t really been going our way. At some point, everything’s going to turn around. We’re going to get hot, we’re going to win some games, and September’s going to come around and we’ll be right in it.”

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.