Will Warren didn’t get much help from his defense.

But the righthander, who has flashed some positives but has mostly struggled in his first full season in the majors as a starter, didn’t do much to help himself, either.

Warren, coming off a 3 1/3-inning outing at Baltimore in his previous start, didn't fair much better on Sunday afternoon in the Yankees' 7-5 loss to the Rays in front of 43,349 at the Stadium.

Though his defense did commit two errors behind him, Warren simply didn’t have his best stuff over 4 2/3 innings in which he allowed five runs (three earned), seven hits and three walks. Warren, who did strike out eight, fell to 1-2 with a 5.65 ERA.

“I feel like the whole day was a little up and down,” Warren said. “They hit the ball kind of where we weren’t. Had three free passes…they were taking advantage of every little thing we gave them.”

The Yankees (19-15), still in first place in what continues to appear like a not-very-good American League East, were outhit, 16-8 and lost the final two games of the series.

They did, however, make it interesting late.

Trailing 7-2 entering the eighth, Aaron Judge extended his on-base streak to 30 games with a leadoff double against righty Mason Englert. Cody Bellinger walked and Paul Goldschmidt smoked an RBI single to left.

In came righthander Edwin Uceta to face Jasson Dominguez. The leftfielder singled off the wall in right to load the bases with nobody out. J.C. Escarra, starting for Austin Wells at catcher, hit into a 1-2-3 double play. But Jorbit Vivas, who pinch hit in the seventh for second baseman Pablo Reyes, stung a two-run single to center to make it 7-5. Pinch hitter Ben Rice walked to put runners on first and second but Uceta got Oswald Peraza to ground to short.

Pete Fairbanks struck out Trent Grisham, Judge and Bellinger in the ninth for his eighth save in eight chances.

“[We[ fell short, especially on the offensive side, not really getting things going,” Judge said. “Guys battled 'til the end and we gave ourselves an opportunity.”

Though Aaron Boone said Warren “kind of got a little bit singled to death,” plenty of those were of the hard-hit variety. And the Rays (16-18) probably felt the game never should have been in doubt as they went 4-for-15 with runners in scoring position and stranded 16. The Yankees went 4-for-11 with RISP and left seven on base.

Rays righthander Taj Bradley (3-2), who allowed six runs and nine hits against the Yankees April 17 in Tampa, allowed two runs, four hits and three walks over 5 1/3 innings on Sunday, striking out one. The two runs came on Bellinger’s two-run homer — the 200th of the outfielder’s career — in the sixth inning that cut the Yankees' deficit to 5-2.

“They’ve got a really good pitching staff, from their bullpen to their starting pitchers,” Judge said of his team’s struggles to score most of the series. “They were kind of able to subdue us there the whole series.”

The Rays won 3-2 on Saturday after a 3-0 Yankees' victory on Friday.

The Rays scored an unearned run in the second inning after an error by shortstop Oswald Peraza, took a 2-0 lead in the third on Jonathan Aranda’s homer, and scored three times in the fourth, with one of those runs unearned after a catcher’s interference call on Escarra.

It appears the Yankees have avoided the worst-case scenario with Anthony Volpe and his shoulder.

Speaking before Sunday afternoon’s game against the Rays, Boone said the MRI and X-rays Volpe underwent on Saturday all came back showing “good news.” Meaning, no structural damage.

“He’s sore,” Boone said before Sunday's game. “But feel like we’re probably in a good spot. [He’s] day-to-day right now. Probably [will] do some hitting [Sunday], see where he's at with that. Strength and everything is real good. So I would say overall encouraging news.”

Volpe hurt the shoulder attempting to make a diving stop in the eighth inning of Saturday’s loss.

After Sunday’s game, Boone said Volpe took dry swings in the trainer’s room late Sunday morning with no issues and could play Monday night when the Yankee start a three-game series against the Padres. The safe way to bet, though, is Volpe getting at least one more day off.