SAN DIEGO — Back-to-back-to-back turned out not to be the ultimate backbreaker. 

But the fourth home run that Gerrit Cole allowed Sunday was. 

Cole gave up three straight homers to begin his outing, and while the Yankees staged a late rally to account for those three runs, it still was not enough as they fell to the Padres 4-3 in the series finale at Petco Park. 

The four solo shots off Cole, on a day when their lineup was stymied by former teammate Michael King, sank the Yankees and cost them a chance to pick up a game on the Rays with time running out to do so. 

After wrapping up a 3-3 West Coast trip — including potentially their last series without Aaron Judge — the Yankees (81-62) flew home trailing the Rays by four games for the division with 19 games left, while the Red Sox crept within 2 ¹/₂ games of them for the top AL wild card. 

King, in his second career start against the Yankees after he was the centerpiece of the trade return for Juan Soto, tossed six shutout innings. He gave the Yankees a chance to get back in it late, as he lost his command in the fifth inning and loaded the bases with two outs, but they were unable to take advantage as Cody Bellinger flew out to end the threat. 

Then, after Cole gave up his fourth home run of the day to Luis Campusano to put the Padres (75-68) ahead 4-0 in the seventh inning, the Yankees mounted a comeback in the top of the eighth against lefty Adrian Morejon. It included an RBI double from Spencer Jones, his latest left-on-left success, and an infield single from pinch hitter Amed Rosario that turned into two more runs with an assist from Morejon’s throwing error, pulling the Yankees within 4-3. 

But after José Caballero, pinch running for Rosario, was thrown out trying to steal second, Jasson Domínguez flew out to squash the rally. 

New York Yankees starting pitcher Gerrit Cole, left, talks with Austin Wells after giving up three home runs during the first inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres on Sunday, September 6, 2026, in San Diego. AP Photo/Gregory Bull

Mason Miller then slammed the door shut on the Yankees in the ninth. 

In between the home runs that bookended his outing, Cole settled in, though the damage was done. 

Fernando Tatis Jr. led off the bottom of the first by taking an outside curveball the other way, belting it into the right field seats for the 1-0 lead. 

Jake Cronenworth followed by going to the opposite field as well, slicing a 97 mph, middle-in fastball down the left field line and keeping it just fair and high enough to hit off the first story of the Western Metal Supply Co. building to make it 2-0. 

Manny Machado then crushed a 97 mph fastball to dead center field, a 416-foot blast that put the Padres ahead 3-0 in the blink of an eye. 

New York Yankees starting pitcher Gerrit Cole watches a home run hit by San Diego Padres’ Jake Cronenworth during the first inning of a baseball game Sunday, Sept. 6, 2026, in San Diego. AP Photo/Gregory Bull

Cole may have been fortunate to limit the damage to just three runs in the inning, as the six batted balls by the Padres in the frame came off the bat at 101.7 mph, 98.4 mph, 109.2 mph, 102.5 mph, 104.3 mph and 92.9 mph. 

It was not the first time Cole had given up back-to-back-to-back home runs to lead off the first inning of a start. He also did it June 9, 2022 against the Twins, a game the Yankees ended up coming back to win. 

They nearly pulled off the same feat Sunday before coming up short.