Following a weekend sweep of the Chicago White Sox, the New York Yankees would host the Seattle Mariners for the start of a four-game set. With Marcus Stroman looking to build off of a strong start against the Minnesota Twins his last time out, he would toe the slab against Logan Gilbert, who is in the middle of a Cy Young caliber season as he’s dominated in the early parts of 2024. With the Yankees looking to make it eight in a row, they would carry a lead into the ninth inning, handing the ball to Clay Holmes with a chance to pick up another win.
Instead, the Mariners would rally in the ninth to stun the Yankees, and they would be stunned by a 5-4 loss that snapped their longest win streak of the early season.
Clay Holmes Struggles As Yankees Blow Three-Run Lead
Marcus Stroman had perhaps his best start with the Yankees, masterfully carving through the Mariners’ lineup across 7.1 innings as he held them to just three hits and one run. He would strike out six batters to just one walk, but his night would come to an end thanks to a Dominic Canzone solo blast in the eighth. Still, the Yankees got a brilliant start from him, and Stroman’s ERA on the season sits at a sparkling 3.05 right now.
The Yankees scored early, getting a 2-0 lead thanks to an RBI double from Alex Verdugo in the first inning, who then followed that up with an RBI single in the fifth. A Jon Berti RBI single would look like the Yankees’ final touch to an excellent win, but then the ninth rolled around with disaster looming. Bloops and defensive miscues would compound as Clay Holmes allowed four runs while collecting just two outs, and the bottom of the ninth would result in the Yankees dropping a winnable game.
It’s Clay Holmes’ first true disaster outing of the season, one where he generated the soft contact you’re accustomed to seeing, but the ball wasn’t dropping in the right spots. It’s a really tough loss, but they’ll have to try and rebound tomorrow as Clarke Schmidt faces off against Bryan Woo in the second game of this series.