The Yankees have dropped three straight -- including four of their past five -- against the Tampa Bay Rays. Tuesday's 6-3 loss at Yankee Stadium served the latest edition of a familiar route to that result.

LHP Blake Snell limited the Yankees (16-7) to four hits in five innings and the Rays' three bullpen pitchers allowed just one knock over the following four frames as the Rays (15-9) pulled within 1.5 games of the AL East lead. The three-run edge by the Rays also marked the Yankees' first home defeat of the season.

1B Luke Voit, who went 1 for 3 with a two-run home run in the lead-off spot, acknowledged the Yankees' struggles into a pivotal game Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. As the second of a three-game series approaches with ace RHP Gerrit Cole (4-0, 2.76 ERA) on the mound, against Rays RHP Tyler Glasnow (0-1, 7.04 ERA), the Yankees hope to stop the bleeding.

"They've got us the 4 of 5, so it's frustrating," said Voit, who struck out with a one-out, bases-loaded opportunity in the seventh inning -- what ultimately turned out to be a scoreless frame for the Yankees. "They're a good team. They've got good pitching, good defense and they can a little bit. And it's nice to have Gerrit on the mound tomorrow. We know he's going to go out and dominate like he always does. So it'll be good to have our ace on the mound and hopefully get us back on track, in the winning column."

C Gary Sanchez, who went 1 for 3 with a solo shot that got the Yankees on the board in the fourth inning, added more of the same.

"It's always a battle against them, so it's a battle against any pitcher," Sanchez said through an interpreter. "Like I said, we've got to turn the page, come back tomorrow give everything we have and just try to be better."

The Yankees took just 1 of 4 games from the Rays during the road series Aug. 7-9 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla., knocking Glasnow out Aug. 8 and winning 8-4 with Cole on the mound. Cole received a no-decision result after allowing three runs on six hits, but he flashed his stuff with 10 strikeouts to one walk.

With a seven-inning performance in last Friday's 10-3 win over the Boston Red Sox, Cole set the tone, throwing a season-best seven innings and yielding one run on four hits while striking out eight and walking none. Cole sees more areas to be better, and the Yankees need an ace-like outing for a bounce-back win.

"I think there's room for improvement still -- fine-tuning, I think, at this point" Cole said. "But we're always trying to get better."

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