Tigers 6, Yankees 2, and it took 11 innings to get there -- but the ending wasn't close to as dramatic as the getting there. Camilo Doval walked in a run, then watched a throwing error turn a one-run deficit into a laugher, and a sub-.500 Tigers team walked out of the Bronx with a three-game sweep.
The Yankees are now losers of seven straight. Seven. That's a losing streak, not a slump, and it's starting to feel like the kind of stretch you look back on in September and wonder how many games it cost.
This wasn't a one-off. Detroit came into the Bronx sitting under .500 and left having taken all three -- 7-3 on Monday, 9-3 on Tuesday, and now this 6-2 finisher that somehow felt worse than the two blowouts combined, because it was actually winnable. The Yankees are 48-38, still holding second in the AL East, but Tampa Bay isn't waiting around. Three games back and building.
The Bullpen Blows It Open
Doval actually started the 11th well -- two straight groundouts, with the automatic runner (Kevin McGonigle) advancing to third along the way. Two outs, one away from escaping clean. Then he intentionally walked Riley Greene with first base open.
Then he walked Hao-Yu Lee. Then he walked Spencer Torkelson, forcing in McGonigle. Bases loaded, nobody feeling great about it, and Doval hadn't even allowed a hit yet.
Zach McKinstry made sure the hit, when it came, would count for three. His single to right scored Greene, Lee, and Torkelson after catcher Ali Sánchez's throwing error let the whole freight train through. 6-2 Tigers, ballgame effectively over before Doval got the third out.
Rosario's Blast Kept Hope Alive
Give the offense this much -- they didn't just fold. Down 2-0 with one out in the bottom of the ninth, Amed Rosario turned on a Drew Anderson pitch and drove it out to left, his 9th homer of the season (he's now hitting the ball out at a pretty solid clip for a guy who doesn't get talked about enough).
That homer wasn't the whole story, but it was the spark. Down to their last strike-ish situation, the Yankees needed someone to make Anderson feel uncomfortable. Rosario did.
Chisholm's Legs, Melton's Arm
Two batters later, Jazz turned uncomfortable into unraveled. Chisholm Jr. singled, stole second, stole third, and scored the tying run on a wild pitch -- all without the benefit of another hit. That's three bases and a run on pure aggression (parenthetically: this is exactly why you don't let him just stand around at first).
Tied at two. Extra innings. And for a minute there, it looked like a signature road-back win in the making.
Credit where it's due on the other side, too -- Tigers starter Troy Melton was the reason the Yankees needed a ninth-inning miracle in the first place. He scattered just two hits (a first-inning single, a fourth-inning double) across 6.1 scoreless innings and finished with 7 strikeouts on 84 pitches. Will Warren wasn't bad for the Yankees either (5.1 IP, 2 ER, 7 K), but Melton was better, and it showed on the scoreboard until Rosario intervened.
Boone's Calls
Nothing wrong with the intentional walk to Greene -- open base, winning run at third, textbook. But letting Doval face three straight hitters after he'd already shown zero command (three walks, one intentional) is the kind of decision that looks fine in the dugout and awful in the box score. Somebody in that pen needed to be up sooner.
This isn't really about one reliever, though. It's about a team that's lost seven straight, just got swept at home by a team with a losing record, and now has to figure out how to stop the bleeding before the schedule gets any less forgiving.
Minnesota comes to the Bronx on Friday. Better find something before then.
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.
