Gerrit Cole gives up back-to-back-to-back home runs to first three batters as Yankees fall to Padres

SAN DIEGO — Gerrit Cole was effective after the first inning Sunday, but by then, it was too late.

Fernando Tatis Jr., Jake Cronenworth and Manny Machado hit consecutive home runs off Cole in a span of 10 pitches to begin the bottom of the first, and the San Diego Padres held off the Yankees, 4-3.

Cole (8-8)  allowed four solo home runs among the six hits he allowed. San Diego starter Michael King (10-9), acquired from the Yankees as part of the Juan Soto trade, pitched six shutout innings, allowing four hits.

Luis Campusano, whose walk-off two-run homer in the 10th inning beat the Yankees on Friday night,  added a 433-foot shot into the second deck in left-center to give the Padres a 4-0 lead in the seventh, and that proved to be the winning run.

Against elite setup man Adrian Morejon in the eighth, Cody Bellinger singled with one out, pinch hitter Paul Goldschmidt walked and lefthanded-hitting Spencer Jones doubled to left to make it 4-1. That lifted his slash line against lefthanded pitchers to .415/.478/.707 in 41 at-bats and 46 plate appearances.

Pinch hitter Amed Rosario chopped an RBI infield single to the third-base side, and when Morejon threw it away, another run scored to make it 4-3. Campusano then threw out pinch runner Jose Caballero attempting to steal second.

 Mason Miller pitched the ninth for his 33rd save, striking out Ben Rice on a 3-and-2 slider with a runner on first to end it.

The Yankees (81-62) remained four games behind AL East-leading Tampa Bay and had their lead over third-place Boston cut to 2 1/2 games.

The Yankees came within a few feet of taking a 4-3 lead in the fifth. After George Lombard Jr. doubled with one out and Austin Wells and Rice drew two-out walks, Tatis caught Bellinger's first-pitch drive just in front of the warning track in rightfield.

The Padres banged the ball all around Petco Park in taking a 3-0 lead against Cole,  who gave up three consecutive homers to open a game for the second time in his career. It was the third time he served up three homers in an inning.

Tatis lined Cole's sixth pitch 371 feet to rightfield for his 20th homer. It was his 19th career leadoff homer and third this season.

Four pitches later, Cronenworth lined his first career opposite-field shot just fair to the base of the Western Metal Supply Co. brick warehouse in the leftfield corner.

Five pitches after that, Machado hit a 416-foot blast to centerfield for his 26th homer.

And two pitches after that, Ty France hit a 396-foot shot to center that backed Jones up against the wall, but he made the catch.

Cole pitched out of a big jam in the second after Dustin Harris' leadoff single went off Jasson Dominguez's glove and continued all the way to the rightfield wall, allowing Harris to reach third. Xander Bogaerts grounded out to short, Ethan Salas struck out and Tatis popped up to strand the runner.

After Sunday's game, the Yankees optioned righthander Elmer Rodríguez to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.