PHOENIX - The Yankees got another quality outing from Cam Schlittler, enough offense to build a lead, and then watched the night slip away in the ninth inning when Aaron Boone went with Michael Fulmer over David Bednar.
That decision ended up defining a 5-3 walk-off loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field, a defeat that pushed New York five games behind Tampa Bay in the American League East with eight games left. The Yankees had entered the night with a chance to keep the race from drifting further out of reach. Instead, they left with more ground to make up.
The game was sitting in a tense 3-3 tie after New York’s bullpen had held Arizona quiet through the seventh and eighth. Brent Headrick got two outs in the seventh before Paul Blackburn finished the inning and worked the eighth. That gave the Yankees one more chance to grab the lead, and one more inning to decide whether Boone would turn to his closer.
He didn’t.
Fulmer got the ninth, even though Bednar had not pitched since throwing two innings Wednesday in Minnesota and entered the night with 34 saves and a 2.58 ERA. Fulmer, signed in late August, had worked two-thirds of a scoreless inning in Friday’s 9-2 win and had logged just 11 1/3 major league innings this season before Saturday.
The inning turned fast. Fulmer appeared to strike out Ildemaro Vargas on a full-count pitch, but Vargas challenged the call through MLB’s automated ball-strike system.
The pitch was changed to a ball, and Vargas reached on the leadoff walk. Fulmer then struck out Jordan Lawlar, but Pavin Smith came off the bench and hammered Fulmer’s second-pitch cutter 391 feet to right field for a two-run walk-off homer.
Juan Morillo picked up the win for Arizona and moved to 5-4. Fulmer took the loss, his first, and his ERA climbed from 1.59 to 3.09. There was no save.
Before that final swing, the Yankees had done enough to make the game feel very much within reach. Ben Rice delivered a sacrifice fly in the fifth, and Heliot Ramos and Austin Wells each homered in the sixth. Schlittler also kept them in position despite a rough stretch that included his first real command lapse in weeks.
Arizona answered every time New York tried to separate. Jordan Lawlar wiped out the Yankees’ first lead with a two-run triple in the fifth after Schlittler mishandled a bunt. Corbin Carroll tied it in the sixth with a sacrifice fly after two walks and a bunt single loaded the bases.
Schlittler finished six innings with three hits allowed and three runs surrendered, only one earned, while striking out six over 98 pitches. His ERA dropped to 1.94. He also took the blame for the fifth-inning mistake that opened the door for Arizona.
“I’ll take the blame for that,” Schlittler said. “I made an error there and let up two runs. That’s baseball, but that one is on me.”
The right-hander’s season line remains eye-catching: he has allowed one earned run or fewer in 24 starts, joining Sandy Koufax and Bob Gibson as the only pitchers in the Live Ball Era with at least 24 such starts in a season, excluding openers.
The Yankees knew the pressure before the first pitch. Several players watched Tampa Bay beat Boston 2-1 in walk-off fashion from the visiting clubhouse, a result that moved the Rays five games ahead. New York had won eight of its previous 10, but the standings gave the night a hard edge from the start.
The loss dropped the Yankees to 89-65. Tampa Bay improved to 94-60. New York still leads Boston by 5 1/2 games for the top American League wild-card spot.
Boone pointed to the four-game set with Tampa Bay that begins Tuesday at Yankee Stadium, but the message was clear: the Yankees can’t get ahead of themselves.
“We sweep, and then it gets interesting,” Boone said. “But you can’t sweep before [Sunday’s] game.”
The Yankees finish the Arizona series Sunday with Will Warren scheduled to face Corbin Burnes. After Saturday, the bigger question is what Boone wants his late-inning mix to look like when the next tight game lands in October-style leverage.
In Other News...
Cam Schlittler Put Yankees Clubhouse On Notice After Another Collapse
Cam Schlittler keeps doing his part, and the Yankees keep finding a way to make it feel smaller than it should. Against Arizona, the rookie right-hander went six innings, allowed three hits and one earned run, and struck out six more hitters while continuing to put up numbers that have him sitting atop the American League with a 1.94 ERA. Even with the setback, his season line remains a reminder of how much steadying force he has given a team that needs it, with a 14-6 record and 234 strikeouts.
The problem for the Yankees is that starts like that are not turning into the kind of wins they can afford this late. Arizona walked them off in the ninth on Pavin Smiths home run, a loss that leaves New York five games back of Tampa Bay in the AL East with eight games to play. Schlittler has made a strong case that he belongs at the center of the conversation, but the bigger issue is whether the club around him can still make his work matter before time runs out. [Read more 🡒]
Yankees Suddenly Face A Brutal Aaron Judge Timeline
Aaron Judges absence has quickly changed the feel of the Yankees stretch run, with the captain landing on the 10-day injured list because of a soleus muscle strain in his calf. Judge said he wants to be back by the postseason, and manager Aaron Boone echoed the clubs intent to get him back before the season ends, but there was no firm timeline attached and no real clarity yet on how long this one might linger.
For a lineup built around Judges presence, even a short-term setback carries obvious weight, especially this late in the year. The Yankees are left waiting on both the injurys severity and the broader recovery path, with Boone leaving the door open but offering little beyond the expectation that the team will keep pushing to have its star available again before the schedule runs out. [Read more 🡒]
Yankees Have A New Third Base Name Fans Need To Watch
Jackson Lovich has quickly become one of the more interesting in-house names in the Yankees system after his first full pro season turned into a breakout. The 22-year-old moved from Single-A Tampa to High-A Hudson Valley and kept producing, putting together an .873 OPS with 24 homers and 41 steals over 112 games while also picking up Player of the Month recognition and postseason All-Star honors.
What makes Lovich especially worth tracking is the way his bat and defensive flexibility line up with a Yankees roster that still does not have a clear long-term answer at third base. He has handled both shortstop and third, which only adds to the appeal, though there are still real questions to answer as he moves up, including a strikeout rate that remains a concern and the fact that he has not reached Double-A yet. [Read more 🡒]