ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Another loss Friday once more featured a weary Yankees lineup that failed to secure “the big hit,” as hitting coach Kevin Long lamented after.

In a tight game with runs hard to come by, five times, the Yankees planted their lead-off batter on first base, but on each occasion those who followed failed to push them much further along.

After the Yankees loaded the bases in the eighth inning with one out -- and chased the Tampa Bay Rays’ commanding starter, Alex Cobb, from the game -- strikeouts by Jacoby Ellsbury and Mark Teixeira drained the rally, one final chance to snap a losing streak now five games long.

Friday’s 5-0 loss to the Rays included, the Yankees have scored seven times since the gloomy span began last weekend.

“We need something to turn,” Long said, “and we need it to turn in a hurry.”

As the offense has withered -- showing signs of old age and suffering from hole-punched swings -- the Yankees have skidded off playoff pace. They still sit eight games off the American League East-leading Baltimore Orioles. While the league wild card spots are closer in reach, the neck-and-neck race now includes the pesky Rays, who have climbed to within a game of the Yankees despite liquidating their ace David Price at the trade deadline.

Creeping through a glum Yankees clubhouse after game No. 120 was the notion a shot at the postseason could soon be lost if the bats don’t seize upon something.

“Yeah, we're running out of time,” Brett Gardner said. “Every day that goes by and we don't win makes us one step closer to being home at the end of September.”

Frustrating the Yankees is how suddenly their momentum halted after a series win over the Detroit Tigers and a 10-run outburst against the Cleveland Indians last Friday.

“You don’t know these things are going to hit you and when they’re going to snowball,” Long said. “We gotta get back to when we were feeling good -- and that was only five or six days ago.”

Girardi praised the vigor of his lineup Friday, citing the rally down 4-0 in the eighth against Cobb, who struck out eight and only allowed five baserunners until that inning. Brad Boxberger took over and Teixeira, who looked at a swerving cutter to end the inning, said he didn’t offer one decent pitch to hit.

“We were where we wanted to be in the order,” Girardi said. “But we weren’t able to come through.”

Long said that among Yankees hitters, morale has sagged. Long’s target for the Yankees offense is four to five runs per game. But with a fastball crossing the plate at 96 miles an hour and a changeup dipping below the strike zone at 80, Cobb shackled the Yankees, who strained to even hit the ball in the air.

Cobb is 5-1 against the Yankees with a 1.75 earned run average that ranks second among active pitchers.

“He was stingy with his base hits,” Girardi said of Cobb. “We got some guys on but it seemed he got better with guys on base.”

The Yankees have lost five straight games to the Rays, who now have 61 wins -- as many as the Yankees do -- after sitting 18 games underneath .500 on June 10.

In the first inning, the Rays demonstrated to their rivals what’s missing. Yankees starter Brandon McCarthy said he could not pinpoint his pitches early and loaded the bases before recording an out. The lean righty then coaxed a pair of grounders, but the Yankees infield couldn’t swing a double play either time.

McCarthy leveled out and matched zeroes with Cobb on the scoreboard until the seventh. An error by Chase Headley kick-started another two-run inning for the Rays.

Of McCarthy, the latest Yankees pitcher to receive little aid from a scuffling lineup, Girardi said: “He didn’t catch any breaks.”