ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- There's an urgency to each loss for the Yankees, whose diminishing wild-card hopes fade with each missed opportunity, like a 2-0 loss Thursday night to the last-place Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field.

"It's unfortunate you give up two runs and you don't win a game, but we have to start over tomorrow," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "I felt like we were going to break through if we could just keep it close, but tonight we weren't able to."

Rays rookie Blake Snell (6-8) threw five shutout innings, and former Yankees pitcher Chase Whitley threw 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief against his old team.

Tampa Bay closer Alex Colome went 1 1/3 innings for his 35th save, getting the final out with a runner at third when Jacoby Ellsbury lined out to center field. The Yankees, who were shut out once in the first 122 games of the season, have been blanked five times in the past 30 games.

"Really good start by Blake, kind of rebounded from his last couple," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "Chase Whitley continues to impress. The feel he has for his offspeed says a lot about him. You just don't see that with guys coming back from that type of extensive rehab."

The Yankees (79-73) went into the night 2 1/2 games behind the Baltimore Orioles for the second American League wild card. The Rays (65-87) continue to play spoiler in the final month of the season. New York won the first two games of the three-game series and now head to Toronto for a key four-game series.

"It would have been nice. Would have helped," Girardi said of the potential sweep. "Every game you lose, it gets tougher. I understand that. This is the biggest series of the year coming up."

Tampa Bay took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Logan Forsythe and Kevin Kiermaier opened the game with singles off Yankees starter Luis Cessa (4-3). With one out, Brad Miller hit an RBI single.

The Rays added to the lead with a solo home run by Corey Dickerson -- his 23rd -- in the sixth inning.

New York outhit the Rays 8-7 but left 11 men on base, including five in the first three innings.

Snell, who had just one win in his past five starts coming in, gave up five hits and three walks while striking out six. Snell got himself into and out of trouble, building up his pitch count but escaping unscathed.

The Yankees opened the game with back-to-back singles from Brett Gardner and Jacoby Ellsbury, but Snell got red-hot rookie Gary Sanchez and Billy Butler on strikeouts, and got Mark Teixeira popped out to first to end the inning.

In the fifth with two outs, Snell walked Sanchez, gave up a single to Butler and walked Teixeira to load the bases, but again was able to get out of the jam as Chase Headley popped out to right field.

"Definitely, it was good, but at the same time, I have to keep pushing for quicker at-bats, deeper into games. There's so much I need to grab onto," Snell said. "I'm definitely happy about it."

Cessa allowed two runs on six hits in six innings.

The Rays finish their final homestand of the season with three games against the first-place Boston Red Sox, while the Yankees play their next four games at Toronto.

NOTES: Yankees RHP Masahiro Tanaka was scratched from his next start with a strain to his right forearm. Tanaka earned the win Wednesday in an 11-5 victory over the Rays, but he also gave up four solo home runs in the third inning. Tanaka became the first Yankees pitcher to win despite allowing four home runs since Orlando Hernandez in 2000. Over his last nine starts, Tanaka is 7-0 with a 2.28 ERA, the longest winning streak of his career. ... Rays 1B Brad Miller hit two home runs Wednesday for his eighth career multi-homer game in 485 career games. That is as many multi-homer games as Babe Ruth and Ted Williams had in their first 485 games. ... Based on the current standings, the Rays will finish the season playing 125 of 162 games against teams that are .500 or better, the most for any team since 1991.