The Yankees had a 6–2 extra inning loss to the Tigers on Wednesday afternoon

The Yankees lost in 11 innings 6–2 against the Tigers in the series finale at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday afternoon. The loss extended the losing streak to seven games, which is the team’s longest losing streak since the 2023 season.

The seven-game losing streak is their second-longest losing streak since Aaron Boone’s first season as manager in 2018. They lost nine straight games in August 2023. They last lost seven straight games while scoring four or fewer runs in each loss in 2000 (the Yankees did win the World Series that season over the Mets).

The Yankees have just 23 hits in their last six games, which is their lowest number of hits over any six-game span in a single season in franchise history. The Yankees have scored just 17 runs during their seven-game losing streak, which is an average of just 2.4 runs a game. The total amount of hits in the last six games and runs in their last seven games proves how much the offense has been struggling. The Yankees were swept in a four-game series over the weekend at Fenway Park and then the Tigers swept this three game series at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees had won two out of three games that they played against Detroit last week.

The Tampa Bay Rays have won seven games in a row and the Yankees have lost seven games in a row. Last week on June 24, the Yankees had a three game lead over the Rays in the AL East but now with the Rays on a long winning streak and the Yankee on a long losing streak, the Rays have a 3.5 game lead over the Yankees in the AL East.

The Yankees have been playing sloppy defense in this series and in their last 12 games overall going back to the middle game of the Reds series. The Yankees have 17 errors in their last 12 games. The Yankees have now allowed 23 unearned runs in their last 12 games. That’s their most unearned runs in any 12-game span since 1989. During the current seven game losing streak, the Yankees have scored 17 runs and they have allowed 17 unearned runs. Only the current Yankees and the 1989 Tigers have a 7-game stretch in a season with seven losses, at least 17 unearned runs allowed and 17 or fewer runs scored.

Two of the Yankees seven losses during this seven-game losing streak have been in extra innings. The Yankees are now 1–5 in extra inning games this season. All of their previous five extra inning games had been decided in 10 innings. The one extra inning game that the Yankees have won was a 7–6 win over Cleveland in the middle of a stretch of games when the Yankees went 8–1 from June 7-June 17.

Fernando Cruz pitched very well in this game. He got the last two outs of the ninth inning and then he retired the side in order in the top of the 10th inning with a line out to right by Kevin McGonigle to end the frame. He got catcher Jake Rogers to strike out and then got McGonigle out after Zach McKinstry had advanced to third on a wild pitch.

The Yankees went 0–8 with runners in scoring position in this game and they had 12 strikeouts. They had a chance to win the game in the bottom of the 10th inning but they did not come through in the clutch. Jose Caballero led off the 10th inning against the Venezuelan Keider Montero and he had a sacrifice bunt to advance the inherited runner Spencer Jones to third. That was a productive out by Caballero.

Oswaldo Cabrera then came to the plate and struck out swinging on an 86 mph slider. He fell to 0–9 with his strikeout with a runner on third and one out. He is still looking for his first hit since coming up from Triple-A and playing his first game last weekend on June 28 since he fractured his ankle on May 12 last year on a slide into home plate. It was a gruesome injury an and arduous recovery for the enthusiastic infielder/outfielder from Venezuela. After Ben Rice was intentionally walked, backup catcher Ali Sanchez, who was 1–8 in his last five games, then came to the plate and had the chance to win the game with a single. Sanchez struck out swinging on a 97 mph fastball and the backup catcher could not give Yankees a walk-off win in the 10th.

In the top of the 11th inning, everything that could go wrong went wrong as Camilo Doval allowed four runs (two earned runs) on one hit and three walks. He allowed two earned runs in this game after having allowed just one earned run in his previous 10 games in a span of 9.1 innings pitched. He had a 0.96 ERA and 13 strikeouts with just three walks in those 9.1 innings pitched.

Doval did get off to a good start to the 11th inning. Doval threw a 101 mph sinker to Dillon Dingler, who is the Tigers best hitter, to leadoff the 11th. Dingler grounded out to to second to advance the inherited runner to third. He then got Matt Vierling to groundout to shortstop to keep Dingler at third. After Riley Greene was intentionally walked, Doval threw a 102 mph fastball to pinch hitter Hao-Yu Lee with two outs. He got a strike swinging on a 90 mph slider. He threw two 101 mph sinkers to Lee. Doval walked Lee, who went 7–18 with two walks in his six games against the Yankees, on a 90 mph slider to load the bases.

Doval threw a 99 mph sinker to Spencer Torkelson for a strike to make the count 3–2. Doval walked in a run with the bases loaded on his low sinker to Torkelson that was out of the strike zone. That walk gave the Tigers a 3–2 lead, which ended up being the game winning run. Torkelson, who is a first baseman, went 0–3 with a run scored, an RBI and two walks in this game and went 6–21 with two doubles, two runs scored and three walks in his six games against the Yankees.

Sanchez lost his ABS challenge attempt that he made from behind the plate with McKinstry at the plate with the bases loaded and two outs. McKinstry had a hard hit single through the left side of the infield that scored three runs to increase the Tigers lead from 3–2 to 6–2. Greene scored on the RBI single and McKinstry went to second on the throw home. Lee and Torkelson also scored since Sanchez’s throw to second went into the outfield. The cutter that Doval threw to McKinstry was too far in the middle of the plate and not inside like he wanted it. In addition to Sanchez’s error, Austin Wells also had an error on his catcher’s interference.

Doval had his second career bases loaded walk in this game. His previous bases loaded walk was on September 5, 2021. Doval entered this game allowing a .350/.391/.550 slash line to left-handed batters this season. That was before allowing the bases-clearing single to lefty McKinstry in the 11th.

McKinstry, who has over performed expectations since he was a 33rd round pick by the Dodgers in 2016, has just a .193 average and a 57 OPS+ this season in 62 games. Yankees were just one out from not allowing a run in top of the to of the 11th inning.

Cody Bellinger flied out for the first out in the 11th inning. He went 0–5 with two strikeouts in this game and is now 5-46 in his last 13 games. In his last 13 games, Bellinger’s average has gone down from .280 to .254 and his OPS has gone down from .860 to .785.

“You want to contribute, and when you’re not succeeding, it’s very frustrating,” Bellinger said after the game.

Rogers, the Tigers catcher, won his ABS challenge against Jazz Chisholm. In that at-bat, Chisholm struck out looking to end the game against Montero, who did not allow a hit or a run in two innings.

About seven or eight players on the Yankees came into this game feeling sick from food poisoning that they got after Tuesday’s loss. Four players required an IV to get them through Wednesday.

“The season waits for nobody, and no one feels sorry for you on that, so we gotta deal with it,” Aaron Boone said before the game. “Bottom line is we got a lineup and a group of pitchers that can go out there and get this thing done today.”

“It’s been a terrible week for us,” Boone said after the game. “There’s no way of sugarcoating it, and we’re capable of way more, obviously.”

The Yankees scored two runs in the ninth inning to tie the game at two. Amed Rosario, who has two homers in his last three games and is 8–30 (.267) with three homers and seven RBI in his last nine games, had a 361 foot homer to left in the ninth inning. Chisholm created the team’s second run in the 9th inning with an infield single and then a steal of second and third. Chisholm then scored on a wild pitch by Drew Anderson.

“I feel like we just gotta lock in, do all the small stuff,” Chisholm Jr. said after the game. “We make a lot of mistakes, and I feel like we beat ourselves. I just feel like we all gotta look each other in the face and take accountability for each other, hold each other accountable and let the other guy know. I feel like that’s how we always are normally, and I feel like we’ve been missing that a little bit.”

Will Warren got the start in this game for the Yankees and he pitched well overall. He showed improvement, especially compared to his previous start. He threw 5.1 innings and allowed two earned runs with five hits and zero walks. He threw a first pitch strike to 16 of the 22 batters he faced. In Warren’s start last week at Fenway against the Red Sox, he allowed five earned runs with seven hits and three walks in 5.2 innings pitched. Warren had seven strikeouts in this start against the Tigers but he did not strike out a batter in his start last week against the Red Sox. Warren has now allowed two earned runs or less 13 of his 17 starts this season.

The bullpen did pitch well for the Yankees before Doval. Paul Blackburn only allowed a walk in his 1.2 scoreless innings and then Brent Headrick threw 1.2 perfect innings with one strikeout, which led into Cruz’s 1.2 dominant innings. Blackburn, who is a 32-year-old righty, has allowed just two earned runs in his last 17 innings in a span of 11 games to lower his ERA from 3.33 to 2.40. Headrick, who is a 28-year-old lefty, has allowed just one earned run in his 17.2 innings in his last 19 games to lower his ERA from 2.31 to 1.52.

The Yankees offense did not have any success against Tigers starting pitcher Troy Melton, who was the Tigers’ fourth round pick in 2022 out of San Diego State University. Melton now has a stellar 2.05 ERA and a 0.795 WHIP in his seven start this season. In this start, he threw 6.1 scoreless innings while allowing just two hits and having seven strikeouts. He threw 50 of his 84 pitches for strikes. Melton tied his career-high of seven strikeouts in this game.

The Yankees previous longest losing streak this season before their current seven-game losing streak was when they lost five games in a row from April 8–12. After that losing streak, the Yankees went 17–4 in their next 21 games, which included an 8-game winning streak. The defense continued to not deliver in this game and the Yankees offense was not good enough, especially in clutch situations. The Yankees not having Aaron Judge, Trent Grisham and Giancarlo Stanton has hurt the team during this losing streak. The Yankees have an off day on Thursday where they will need to regroup and refocus before starting a series against the Twins on Friday.