ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — No pitcher in the past quarter century had been as dominant against the New York Yankees as Tampa Bay Rays starter Drew Rasmussen. Considering the opponent and the situation — the Yankees having a bullpen game — the series finale seemed the unlikeliest for them to win.But the Yankees breezed to a 12-4 victory over the Rays, splitting the four-game set. Rasmussen was chased after 2 1/3 innings pitched and six runs allowed; before Thursday afternoon, he hadn’t allowed more than two runs in any start against the Yankees.“That’s baseball, Suzyn,” manager Aaron Boone said.With the win, the Yankees are 6-15 in their last 21 games. They are still in the midst of their annual summer swoon. They are four games behind the Rays in the American League East, and will move on to face the Washington Nationals in a three-game road series that begins Friday.Before Thursday’s game, general manager Brian Cashman spoke about a variety of topics, including the health of Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. Here are takeaways on some other Yankees matters, including why they continually slump in the middle of the year.Jasson Domínguez and Ben Rice celebrate after the All-Star first baseman hit his 28th home run of the season. (Julio Aguilar / Getty Images)There’s no answer for Yankees’ swoons? For several years running, it’s been a recurring theme for the Yankees: start the season hot, build a lead in the division and then play inexplicably bad baseball for an indeterminate amount of time. That’s where they are in the calendar at the moment.“I believe in positivity and positive momentum, but I also believe that consequently, if you get going in the wrong direction, that can avalanche as well, and that’s what we’re dealing with right now,” Cashman said.The Yankees routinely say that these types of spirals happen to every team in baseball, seemingly as a way to justify their poor play. What is weird about the Yankees’ yearly swoons is that it doesn’t matter which players are available and healthy. They still happen anyway. Why?“I don’t have an answer for that,” Cashman said. “I do have an answer that those storms come. I know ours seem to happen consistently, even though we might have different personnel and stuff at times, but consistently in the summertime, for some reason.“We’ve had some adjustments in staff. We have an adjustment in process, and our players are committed. … But it happens to be part of our season at the consistent time frame, so I don’t really have an answer for it. We’ve certainly internally had conversations regarding it, trying to figure out why, and the answer might be different every year. But the fact is, it is.”That answer is a good segue into our next takeaway.Votes of confidence for Boone, RowsonFor fans hoping that the Yankees make an in-season coaching change, don’t bank on it.Cashman said he thinks Boone “does a great job.” He still believes he’s the right manager for the job, despite the Yankees’ annual trend of a summer swoon. Boone’s contract runs through the 2027 season, and it appears the Yankees are planning to have him continue in his position.“I think he’s a very hard worker, very well connected,” Cashman said. “I think he’s prepared. I think he’s pulling every lever he possibly can. Nothing more than I’ve said before.”Cashman has made only one in-season coaching change in his decades-long tenure as the Yankees’ general manager. That happened in 2023, when he fired hitting coach Dillon Lawson. Although the Yankees’ offense has struggled since the start of June, Cashman still has faith in hitting coach James Rowson, who was a managerial finalist for the Minnesota Twins’ job in the offseason.“James is a very accomplished hitting coach,” Cashman said. “Our hitting group is very good at what they do. Our players are very good at what they do. Just not playing well right now. That’s just the honest assessment. We just haven’t played well for three weeks now, and it’s extremely frustrating when that’s going on. We want it to stop yesterday. But the only way to stop it is to go out there and pull down a victory on a consistent basis.”Can Gerrit Cole become an ace again?Derek VanRiper and Eno SarrisCatching an issueAustin Wells entered Thursday’s game with a 33 wRC+, which would be one of the 100 worst offensive seasons over the past 100 years. It is a stunning result for a player who was considered a bat-first prospect when the Yankees drafted him in the first round in 2020.Hours after Cashman spoke about Wells’ recent offensive ineptitude, the catcher delivered his best game in weeks. He hit his first home run since May 22. Remarkably, it also came against a left-handed pitcher; Wells entered Thursday with a minus-8 wRC+ against lefties this season. Wells also drew a walk for the first time since May 31.Whenever Wells has been in the lineup, the Yankees have essentially been playing with eight batters.“It’s an issue, clearly,” Cashman said of Wells’ offense.Cashman thinks the Yankees’ defense behind the plate has been “thriving,” with Wells, Ali Sánchez and J.C. Escarra. But offensively, no other team is getting worse production from its catchers.“On the offensive side, it’s been a struggle, and it’s a surprise,” Cashman said. “We feel like we have players capable of a lot more. I recognize and acknowledge how difficult this game can be, and so it’s become an area of concern, clearly, when it wasn’t expected to be. I know he’s doing everything he can, and they are doing everything they can to improve in that category. I know that they’re capable of that, but at the same time, it’s been a struggle.”It’s not an industry secret that the Yankees are looking to upgrade the position at the trade deadline, with Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers an obvious target. Jeffers (hamate bone fracture) has recently started a rehab assignment. Even if it’s not Jeffers, it would be stunning if the Yankees do not have a new catcher before the deadline passes. They cannot continue with the status quo.New shortstop on the horizon?Could the Yankees have a new shortstop at some point after the All-Star break? It’s a possibility.George Lombard Jr., who has been on the injured list since June 18 with sprained fingers, is expected to play in rehab games during the All-Star break. Boone’s daily shortstop decision between Anthony Volpe and José Caballero has been an ongoing storyline over the past few months. Lombard could provide a more stabilizing option for the Yankees.Before his injury, the 21-year-old posted a .766 OPS in 42 games for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The Yankees have been adamant that Lombard is MLB-ready defensively, but that they needed to see more offensively before strongly considering him. Although Lombard has a 109 wRC+ in Triple-A, his batted-ball metrics suggest better results. He ranks in the 93rd percentile for average exit velocity and the 89th percentile for hard-hit rate, according to Prospect Savant.“Definitely was thriving and conquering the final level,” Cashman said of Lombard. “Looking forward to getting him back and active, and he might be a choice at some point. More importantly, we just got to get him playing again and turning him loose again in Triple A. Really talented player that, offensively, was coming a long way of closing the gap despite his age. Defensively, he’s plug-and-play, ready to go.”If Lombard returns to form once he’s fully healthy, it should not surprise anyone if he’s the Yankees’ starting shortstop by Sept. 1.