The Yankees offense had another tough game on Friday night.

Going up against the Rays in Tropicana Field, the Yankees lineup scored two runs in the first inning before finally pushing across another run in the eighth. The team had just five hits, but despite all of that, the Yankees had a chance to at least tie the game in the ninth inning, but manager Aaron Boone made a curious decision.

Down 5-3, Giancarlo Stanton and Amed Rosario led off with singles. Jazz Chisholm Jr. grounded into a fielder's choice to put runners at the corners with two outs. Chisholm would steal second to give the Yankees an opportunity to tie the game with just a single. Randal Grichuk, who started in right field in Boone's right-handed-heavy lineup against Tampa's southpaw starter, Steven Matz, was due up.

The Rays had right-hander Bryan Baker on the mound to start the ninth looking for the save, so it seemed like a golden opportunity for the Yankees skipper to go to his bench for a left-hander in this scenario.

Trent Grisham was on the bench and could easily take Grichuk's spot in the outfield in the bottom half of the inning, but Boone decided to keep Grichuk in. Unfortunately for the Yankees, Grichuk struck out on four pitches for the second out. Boone would call Grisham's number to bat for Jose Caballero, but the veteran outfielder popped out to end the game.

"I like the righties against Baker," Boone explained. "Had it been two outs, I might have gone Grisham."

Baker, 31, is in his sixth season in the bigs and Boone says he has reverse-splits. This season, Baker has not allowed a base runner to a lefty (eight batters), but has allowed three hits, including a home run, against right-handers (10 batters). Expand that for his career and it plays out similarly. Entering Friday, right-handed batters have hit .240 with 15 home runs against him in 513 plate appearances. Left-handed bats are hitting .201 with nine home runs in 348 plate appearances.

Grichuk, who broke camp with the Yankees because of his elite bat against left-handers. Entering Friday, Grichuk was hitting .267 with 79 home runs in 1677 plate appearances against lefties. He's still solid against right-handers, batting .241 with 133 home runs in 3161 plate appearances, but Grichuk has struggled mightily to start the season.

Including Friday, Grichuk is now 0-for-9 with five strikeouts.

But the Yankees' offensive struggles aren't just on Grichuk. The three runs they scored in the series opener is the same as they scored in their last two games. As MLB.com's Bryan Hoch points out, the Yankees are batting .201 as a team, which third-lowest in MLB behind the Mariners and White Sox. Their team OPS of .648 is now ranked 23rd in baseball.

"No, I don’t think there’s any concern," Ben Rice said of the offense. "We’re so early in the year. We got off to a hot start as well. Everyone is very calm here and understands there’s a long road ahead. WE got the team that can get us to where we want to go."

"Up until the last game of the homestand, we’ve been walking a ton, giving ourselves an opportunity, just got to get some guys clicking and obviously get that big hit," Boone said. "We’re not hitting a ton of longballs right now, but for the most part, approach-wise, I’ve been good…it’s going to happen sometimes from the offense. They’ll get it rolling and some people will pay the price."

The Yankees hope to get their lineup going offensively again and break their three-game losing streak when they play the Rays on Saturday evening.