Brice Turang hit a 411-foot homer over the center-field wall off David Bednar with two outs in the ninth inning, and the Yankees walked off American Family Field having been swept by Milwaukee for the first time since August 1989. Final score: Brewers 4, New York Yankees 3.
The weird part is that Bednar had just struck out Joey Ortiz and Jackson Chourio to start the frame. Two outs, nobody on, tie game -- everything you'd ask for from your closer. Turang didn't get the memo. He drove one 411 feet to center for his first career walk-off homer, and the Brewers completed a three-game sweep with the same kind of gut-punch finish they'd been delivering all weekend.
Rodón Unravels in the Fourth
Carlos Rodón came back from October elbow surgery and no-hit the Brewers through 3⅔ innings Sunday afternoon. Command looked sharp, Logan Henderson was matching him pitch for pitch, and for a minute this felt like the best possible version of the season opener -- just five weeks late.
Then the walks started.
Rodón walked William Contreras. Walked Gary Sánchez. Hit a batter. The bases loaded with no outs, and the Brewers -- who'd been completely silent -- suddenly had a rally built entirely on Rodón's control deserting him. Garrett Mitchell's sac fly made it 2-1. Then Blake Perkins, batting eighth, punched a two-run single up the middle to put Milwaukee ahead 3-2.
That's the whole ballgame, as it turns out. Five walks in 4⅓ innings, three earned runs, and a 2-0 lead gone. The arm was there -- Rodón generated strikeouts and his stuff wasn't the problem. The command wasn't. (He'll need those two things to agree with each other before his next turn.)
Judge Gave Them Something to Work With
Before any of the bad stuff, Aaron Judge gave the Yankees exactly what you'd expect from Aaron Judge.
First inning, Henderson gets ahead of him -- Judge goes the other way to right field. Solo shot, his 16th homer of 2026, tying Kyle Schwarber for the MLB lead. His 7th first-inning homer of the season and the 92nd of his career.
He didn't try to yank it. He let the pitch get deep, turned on it late, and put it in the right field seats at American Family Field. That's the stuff that makes him the best hitter in the game when he's locked in. The Yankees just needed someone to hold the lead.
Spencer Jones Gets His First
Two innings later, Spencer Jones lined an RBI single to center field off Henderson -- 106.4 mph exit velocity, his first career hit, his first career RBI, in his third career game. It drove in Caballero and made it 2-0.
Jones debuted May 8 and went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts. Nobody panicked (prospects need at least a game or two before the fans start writing eulogies). He came back out Sunday, hit a 106-mph rocket to center, and crossed his first career hit off the list like it was nothing. Prospects who make contact like that don't stay prospects very long.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. tied it in the sixth -- two outs, Bellinger on base, DL Hall on the mound. Chisholm drove a double to right that scored Bellinger and knotted it at 3-3, handing Hall his first blown save of the season. From there the Yankees' pen held for three innings. A clean bridge to Bednar.
You know how the rest went.
Not Much to Second-Guess
There isn't a decision Aaron Boone made Sunday that you'd do differently. Bednar's the closer. The game was tied. You go to your best arm. That's the job.
The issue was the fourth inning, when five walks turned a comfortable lead into a deficit. Rodón's going to be fine -- the velocity was there, the movement was there, and nobody expected him to be completely locked in his first start off the injured list. But command issues in a 4-inning outing cost the Yankees three runs and gave Milwaukee a lead they never gave back.
It just wasn't Rodón's day, and then it wasn't Bednar's day, and now the Yankees have lost three straight and head home having been swept by the Brewers in a series for the first time since 1989.
They're 26-15. One game back of Tampa Bay in the AL East. The schedule doesn't stay kind forever.
Jimmy writes the Bronx Pinstripes game recap after every Yankees game. Beat-reporter pacing, fan's heartbeat. He calls opposing players by last name and has no patience for dead-air innings.
