The Yankees spent Sunday afternoon digging out of a hole they’d made in a hurry, only to watch their comeback get clipped by one aggressive decision in the eighth inning of a 4-3 loss to the Padres in San Diego.
Down 4-0 entering the eighth, New York finally started to crack Adrian Morejon. Cody Bellinger singled, Paul Goldschmidt walked, and Spencer Jones doubled in a run in a tough left-on-left matchup that has become a calling card during his recent surge.
Then Amed Rosario, hitting for Jazz Chisholm Jr., dropped a swinging bunt up the third-base line. Morejon’s throw to first sailed wide, the ball rolled into foul territory, and two more runs crossed.
Just like that, the Yankees were within 4-3 with the tying run on base and one out.
That’s when Aaron Boone pushed for more. Jose Caballero came in to run for Rosario, and with Jasson Dominguez at the plate, Caballero broke for second.
Padres catcher Luis Campusano threw him out cleanly, the Yankees challenged, and the call stood. Instead of putting the tying run in scoring position, New York was left with two outs and nobody on.
Dominguez then lined out to center, and the rally was finished.
Boone stood by the decision afterward.
“They made a play on us, but we’re not going to stand over there,” Boone said. “We’ve got to try to get into scoring position there.”
The move made sense on paper. Caballero’s speed could have turned a single into a tie game.
But the cost of getting caught was brutal, and it came against a catcher who had already spent the weekend shutting down Yankees runners. Campusano threw out three New York steal attempts on Friday and then nailed Caballero on Sunday, finishing the series a perfect four-for-four against Yankees baserunners.
Spencer Jones was one of the runners he caught earlier, getting thrown out trying to steal third in Friday’s extra-inning loss.
The choice also fit Caballero’s profile. He entered 2026 having led the American League in stolen bases in each of the previous two seasons, though he has also been caught 10 times this year against 31 steals. That made the gamble understandable - and just as easy to question after it failed.
The bigger damage, though, had already been done in the first inning. Gerrit Cole was tagged for homers by the first three Padres he faced - Fernando Tatis Jr., Jake Cronenworth and Manny Machado - all in the span of 15 pitches.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Cole is the only pitcher in major league history to allow homers to the first three batters of a game twice in a career. He settled in after that, giving up only a Campusano solo homer in the seventh, but the early burst left the Yankees playing catch-up all day.
Michael King, the former Yankee dealt to San Diego in the December 2023 Juan Soto trade, handled the rest. He worked six scoreless innings against his old team and stretched his scoreless streak to 21 2/3 innings. Mason Miller closed it out for his 33rd save.
The loss left New York at 81-62, four games behind Tampa Bay in the AL East with 19 games to play. The Yankees’ lead over Boston for the top American League wild card dropped to 2 1/2 games after the Red Sox won in Baltimore. New York finished its West Coast trip 3-3 and now heads into a six-game homestand against the Rockies and Mets, with optimism that Aaron Judge could return during that stretch.
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