After long rain delay, Yankees falter in loss to Marlins
· Yahoo Sports
NEW YORK — The New York Yankees faced a couple of curveballs before they even saw a pitch Sunday.
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First came the rain, a steady downpour in the Bronx that delayed the start of their series finale against the Miami Marlins by three hours and 35 minutes.
As they waited, the Marlins changed their pitching plans, opting to open Sunday’s game with flame-throwing closer Pete Fairbanks before he returned to Florida to go on paternity leave.
The Yankees nearly managed to overcome it all.
But an eighth-inning bullpen implosion doomed the Yankees in a 7-6 loss, denying them a three-game sweep of Miami.
The loss snapped the Yankees’ (7-2) four-game winning streak.
The Yankees led, 4-3, going into the eighth, but the Marlins scored four runs against three relievers in the frame.
The rally started when Fernando Cruz issued a one-out walk to Jakob Marsee. Jake Bird replaced Cruz and walked Otto Lopez on four pitches, then plunked pinch-hitter Griffin Conine to load the bases.
Bird started pinch-hitter Graham Pauley off with two strikes, but three pitches later, the lefty-swinging Pauley pulled a hanging sweeper into right field for a two-run double, putting Miami up, 5-4.
The Marlins padded their lead when Xavier Edwards grounded a two-run single back up the middle with the infield in against left-hander Ryan Yarbrough.
The Yankees’ bullpen was short-handed Sunday after closer David Bednar threw 33 pitches in Saturday night’s 9-7 win.
Sunday’s Easter matinee was originally scheduled to start at 1:35 p.m. ET, but because of the unrelenting rain, Yankees starter Max Fried did not throw the game’s first pitch until 5:10 p.m.
Ben Rice gave the Yankees an early lead with a three-run home run against Fairbanks in the first inning. The 410-foot blast into the right-field second deck was Rice’s third home run of the season.
The Yankees tacked on another run in the third inning against right-hander Chris Paddack, who was originally scheduled to start for the Marlins.
Aaron Judge led off that inning with a booming double, and Cody Bellinger followed with a walk.
Rice then hit a potential double-play grounder to first baseman Connor Norby, but Norby’s throw sailed past the shortstop Lopez at second base, allowing Judge to score as the Yankees took a 4-1 lead.
Lopez was charged with an error for failing to catch the throw.
But the Yankees made three consecutive outs from there, stranding runners at second and third. The Yankees also left two runners on base in the fifth, seventh and ninth innings.
They finished 2 for 12 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base.
Miami, meanwhile, continued to chip away.
The Marlins made it a 4-3 game in the sixth inning on a Heriberto Hernandez grounder to shortstop José Caballero — a play on which Hernandez reached safely because Caballero’s throw pulled Rice off of first base.
That left runners at the corners with nobody out.
But Fried picked off Hernandez for the first out of the inning, and with the infield in, Caballero recorded the second out by nailing Lopez at home.
Hernandez and Lopez were both initially ruled safe, but both calls were overturned after Yankee challenges.
Edwards then grounded into a force out as Fried escaped the jam with the one-run lead intact.
After totaling 13 1/3 scoreless innings over his first two starts, Fried was charged with three earned runs in 6 2/3 innings Sunday. The left-hander allowed five hits and three walks with four strikeouts and now has a 1.35 ERA.
Fried exited in line for his third win in as many starts, but he took a no-decision after the bullpen faltered.
Bird, who did not allow a run over his first four appearances, took the loss Sunday. He was charged with three earned runs without recording an out.
With Fairbanks already deployed, the Marlins turned to Anthony Bender to pitch the ninth. Bender issued one-out walks to Bellinger and Rice, then surrendered a two-run double to Jazz Chisholm Jr. with two outs.
But J.C. Escarra struck out to end the game, leaving the tying run at second base and the winning run at first.
The Yankees are off Monday, then will look to return to the win column when they begin a three-game series at home against the A’s on Tuesday night.
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