The Yankees had every chance to drag this one across the finish line and at least buy themselves a little peace before the off day. Instead, they found a new way to lose.
What should have been a badly needed escape turned into a 7-2-3 kind of mess, with the Yankees dropping their seventh straight after a brutal 11th-inning collapse. For eight innings, they barely showed up at all. Troy Melton made them look stuck in place, allowing just 2 hits over 6.1 innings while striking out 7 in the 95-degree heat at Yankee Stadium.
Then, finally, the lineup stirred in the ninth. Amed Rosario homered.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. singled, stole second, stole third, and came home on a wild pitch to tie it. For a moment, it looked like the Yankees might stumble into one of those ugly wins teams remember later as a turning point.
Instead, the game drifted into the 10th, and the Yankees let that chance slip too.
Spencer Jones started the inning on second. Jose Caballero moved him to third with a bunt.
One out. The winning run was 90 feet away.
Then Oswaldo Cabrera struck out, Ben Rice was intentionally walked, and Ali Sánchez struck out. The inning ended with the score still tied, and the Yankees never recovered.
Afterward, Aaron Boone was asked about not using Paul Goldschmidt in that spot. Boone said Goldie was fine, but because the Yankees were short-handed and didn’t have enough positional flexibility, he was not going to put Goldschmidt at third or second.
That explanation did not do much to quiet the obvious fan question: with the winning run on third, why are you saving bodies for an inning that might never come?
The answer, on this night, was simple. The Yankees kept playing like a team with options they don’t actually have.
Camilo Doval was the one who got burned in the 11th. He recorded two outs, then lost the strike zone.
Hao-Yu Lee had already worked a tough at-bat, Boone said, and spoiled a good slider. After that, Lee walked, Spencer Torkelson walked, and the run scored.
Then Zach McKinstry, hitting under .200, punched a single to shallow right that cleared the bases after a throwing error by Sánchez.
That error was the Yankees’ 17th in their last 12 games.
Boone did not try to dress it up afterward. He called it “a terrible week” offensively and said there is “no way of sugar coating it.”
He wasn’t wrong.
The Yankees have now lost 7 in a row, their longest skid since 2023, and 11 of 14. Since Aaron Judge fractured his rib, they are 12-15. They were also swept by Detroit for the first time since 2008.
Will Warren at least gave them a chance to survive it. He worked 5.1 innings, gave up 2 runs, struck out 7 and didn’t issue a walk.
Boone pointed to the quality of Warren’s secondary stuff, especially the changeup against Detroit’s left-handed-heavy lineup. Kevin McGonigle’s solo homer in the third and a sacrifice fly in the sixth were the only damage against him.
But this loss was never about the starter. Not with the Yankees managing just 2 runs in 11 innings and waiting until the ninth to show any life at all.
Boone also said around seven or eight players were dealing with food poisoning, including some injured list guys. Spencer Jones, he said, was apparently hit pretty hard early before telling Boone around the sixth or seventh that he could be available.
That helps explain the mess. It doesn’t erase it.
The bigger picture is already ugly enough. The Yankees have totaled just 23 hits over their last 6 games.
Austin Wells is still hitting .153. Jasson Domínguez went 0-for-4 and left 4 runners on base.
Cody Bellinger finished 0-for-5 with 2 strikeouts.
Now they get an off day, and Boone said it’s a chance to refresh the body and mind.
Fair enough. They need it.
But when they return Friday against Minnesota, the Yankees won’t need another round of explanations. They’ll need cleaner baseball, actual offense, and a defense that stops handing out extra outs like they’re free samples.
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The Yankees were held to just one hit off Casey Mize and finished with three hits overall, the kind of outing that has become too familiar during the skid. Up next is another stiff test, with Cam Schlittler lined up to face Tarik Skubal as New York looks for any sign that the bats can wake up before the losing streak turns into something harder to shake. [Read more 🡒]