Clay Holmes has been so mechanical this season that when he got a three-round lead in the ninth inning on Tuesday night, the buses were smart to start warming up.
Instead, the newly named All-Star never found his order, tipping the Yankees’ win as they did with some stadiums back.
The Reds did what no other team did this season, scoring four games from Holmes in the ninth game to stun the Yankees, giving them a 4-3 loss and only their second defeat in three consecutive games this season.
The Yankees (61-26) were 49-0 when they lead after the eighth inning this year. But in the rare clunker, Holmes let in more runs on Tuesday than he had collected all season (three) while failing to score.
It can’t happen,” said Holmes, who threw only five of his 16 kicks for strikes with his ERA ballooning from 0.46 to 1.37. “I should be a little better at making some tweaks in the game. … There [were] A few pitches the diver didn’t feel so well and I think I was just starting to let myself lose some direction there. Once that happened, it was really hard to correct the ship. Just a ton of non-competitive offers.”
Entering the match with a 3-0 lead, Holmes faced five players and none of them quit, loading the bases on a walk, one-on-one hit after another, leading to a visit by coach Matt Blake. But his struggles continued from there, allowing the RBI single to take diving glove Isiah Kiner-Falefa before hitting Kyle Farmer to make it 3-2.
“He just didn’t have it,” said manager Aaron Boone. “Just uncharacteristically really out of the area.”
He then snatched Boone Holmes for Andy Peralta, who nearly made the escape. Donovan Solano and Nick Seen have pushed into Felder’s player options, although both may have opportunities to become double players.
Previously, catcher Jose Trevino held strong at home before dribbling in the transfer and missing the opportunity to throw for first place. In the latter, Josh Donaldson fielded a third and threw home to take a sure second instead of trying to start the 5-4-3 double. Boone said he thought it was the right game in real time.
“The only ball I was going to go to second base with at that moment was like one jump ball in my face and it had enough power,” Donaldson said. “Know how [Senzel] Being, it should be a perfect throw for a second move, a perfect, perfect throw for first base.”
The Reds (33-54) took advantage of the opportunity, with Jonathan India coming in next, and with two attacks I advanced with a broken bat, solo into the right midfield to lead 4-3.
Holmes’ night wasted seven rounds by Great Cole, who hit 11 and looked poised to get the Yankees back on track after a back-to-back loss to the Red Sox over the weekend.
“[Holmes has] Cole said. “Sometimes these nights will happen. We will look for the next opportunity to pick him up, that’s for sure.”
The Yankees had at least one primary runner in each run, but they couldn’t muster more than three runs. Gleyber Torres was the main source of attack, going 3 vs 4 with two doubles, a walk and two runs while also playing a solid defense. This was his sixth multi-hit effort in the last eight games, falling out of second in the lineup one night when Aaron Judge rested.
But it was all in vain as Holmes’ rough night resulted in a rare slip of the same amount from three games for the Yankees.
“Obviously the last few games don’t indicate who we are,” Donaldson said. “It’s happening, it’s baseball.”
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