Yankees" Andy Pettitte Gets First Loss of Season Brian Blanco/Associated Press The Rays" Alex Cobb tipped his hat to the crowd after holding the Yankees to three hits over eight and a third innings. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Andy Pettitte clearly did not want to go into a detailed discussion about the curveball that he felt decided the game. He said the location was not the problem. It was the pitch itself. Manager Joe Girardi said it was up a bit, this fateful pitch that Ben Zobrist smacked for a two-run double in the fifth inning, a drive that was more than enough for the Tampa Bay Rays to beat the Yankees, 3-0, on Wednesday at Tropicana Field. "No, it wasn't over the middle of the plate," he said. It was just really not a great sequence for me. It wasn't a terrible pitch, but it was the wrong pitch at that time, I think. Asked two more times what he meant, Pettitte (3-1) kept referring to the sequence. With runners on second and third and two outs, Pettitte started Zobrist off with a fastball for a ball. Then he threw a slider for another ball. Another slider sneaked in for a called strike. Then came the curveball. "Just a bad sequence," he said. Should Pettitte have shaken off catcher Francisco Cervelli and thrown a fastball, or perhaps another slider or a cut fastball? "The bottom line," he said, "is I had a chance to get out of that inning. Didn't do it. Alex Cobb, the Rays" starter, allowed only three hits in eight and one-third innings as the Yankees lost for the second time in the three-game series and finished their trip with a 3-3 record. The Yankees did not threaten until the ninth, when Brett Gardner singled off Alex Cobb with one out. Rays Manager Joe Maddon called on Fernando Rodney, who was on the mound in the ninth inning the night before when the Yankees rallied to win. Ichiro Suzuki, who drove in the game-winner on Tuesday, followed Gardner with a base hit. Rodney got Robinson Cano to ground out to second, and with the runners at second and third, Rodney got Travis Hafner to pop up to end the game. Asked what made Cobb so good, Eduardo Nunez, who had one of the Yankees" four hits, credited catcher Jose Molina. "Molina did a great job behind the plate," Nunez said. He called a great game. Pettitte was looking for his fourth straight victory to start the season, which he has never done. Instead, he got his first loss. He finished with 10 strikeouts - two off his career high - in only six innings. But in the fifth he ran into trouble - some of it his fault - and in the sixth he gave up a leadoff home run to Sean Rodriguez. He gave up three runs, two earned, and seven hits. In the fifth he hit Molina, who was leading off, with a 1-2 pitch. Kelly Johnson singled to right, and right fielder Brennan Boesch let the ball scoot under his glove for an error. As it rolled toward the wall, Molina advanced to third and Johnson settled in at second with the top of the order coming up. Still, Pettitte came within a whisker of getting out of it. He struck out Desmond Jennings and then caught Ryan Roberts looking at a backdoor slider for a called strike three. One more out was all he needed, but Zobrist hit that 2-1 curveball into the gap in right-center field, with both runners scoring. "It's hard to swallow - that's for sure," Pettitte said. The kid threw a great game, and we weren't able to do much. Not a whole lot more than that on this one. The Rays were entertained by a group of penguins that waddled through their clubhouse before the game. They were the latest novelty act that Rays Manager Joe Maddon has employed as a combination team-building exercise and diversion for the players. "I just want the guys to chill out," Maddon quipped. The penguins were from the nearby Tampa Aquarium.