MLB

Latest loss drops Yankees into first-place tie

OH, NO! Derek Jeter can’t bear to watch as the Yankees lose 5-2 last night vs. the Rays, dropping them into a tie with the O’s for the AL East lead. (
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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Twenty-seven is the Yankees’ magic or tragic number depending how you want to view it. Watching them falter down the stretch at the plate, tragic is fast becoming a very short favorite.

How bad has The Dead Bat Society been? Hitting coach Kevin Long indicated the slumping lineup could turn to large doses of small ball to produce runs instead of relying on calling-card home runs.

After five-plus months, the Yankees are tied for the AL East lead with the Orioles after losing 5-2 to the Rays Tuesday night in front of a small gathering of 17,652 at Tropicana Field.

BOX SCORE

Coupled with Baltimore punishing the Blue Jays, the Yankees and Oriols are tied for first with identical 76-59 records. The 75-61 Rays pulled within 1½ games of first place.

The Yankees and Orioles have 27 games left — the Rays 26.

“It seems like it’s the same story every day,’’ Derek Jeter said after the Yankees’ 10th loss in 14 games and third straight. “We need to find ways to score more runs than we have.’’

Long said one way for the team that leads the majors with 203 homers and has 10 players with at least 10 to plate more runners is to alter the approach.

“Obviously we have hit a lot of home runs and that has been talked about,’’ Long said. “At times like these it’s just as important to move some runners. We might have some guys bunt that really don’t bunt. There are some things we can do instead of sitting around for the big home run.’’

In the past five games — four losses — the Yankees have scored 13 runs. While going 3-7 in the previous 10, the Yankees are 12-for-65 (.185) with runners in scoring position.

After Robinson Cano’s two-run first-inning homer off Alex Cobb, the Yankees didn’t score despite having runners at first and second and no outs in the third.

Maybe if Nick Swisher had the bunt sign he wouldn’t have fanned in front of Cano banging into a 1-6-3 double play.

Freddy Garcia’s third straight ineffective outing (five runs, five hits, three homers and four walks in 5 ¹/₃ innings) didn’t help but the onus is on the hitters.

So, a lead that was 10 games on July 18 and six on Aug. 17 has vanished.

“We start from zero now and you have to forget what happened the last few weeks and focus on the game,’’ said Cano, who was the designated hitter because of a hip injury he suffered Monday.

Manager Joe Girardi was ejected in the fourth with the Yankees trailing, 3-2, and missed back-to-back homers by Desmond Jennings and B.J. Upton leading off the fifth that extended the lead to 5-2 against Garcia, who is 7-6.

Cobb, 24, was 4-0 with a 3.38 ERA in six August starts and stretched the winning streak to five. He allowed two runs and five hits in seven innings and is 9-8.

Long mentioning bunting runners up isn’t an indication that the Yankees have panicked. Yet, only the Indians with 12 have less sacrifice bunts than the Yankees (20) in the majors.

Still, waiting for the three-run homer hasn’t worked lately.

“We were so good for so long banging the ball out of the park,’’ said Long, whose leading sacrifice bunter is Russell Martin with five. Jeter has four. “When it starts going the other way maybe take a different approach and see if that can get us going.’’

At this point it couldn’t hurt.

george.king@nypost.com