MILWAUKEE — The Yankees picked up Michael Tonkin off waivers Thursday and threw him straight into the fire Friday.
Both parts were burned.
After the Yankees took a one-run lead in the top of the 10th, Tonkin allowed the tying run to score in the bottom of the inning before the Brewers pulled him away in the 11th for a 7-6 victory. American Family Field. .
Joey Ortiz threw the dagger, firing a hard ground ball past third baseman Jahmai Jones to score the winning run from third.
On a night where Luis Gil lasted just five innings, the Yankees (17-10) had already used four relievers to get to the 10th inning, including Clay Holmes throwing a 10-pitch pitch in the bottom of the ninth.
Before Friday, the closer had last pitched Tuesday, when he threw a nine-pitch inning, but manager Aaron Boone opted not to extend him for a second inning of work against the Brewers (17-8 ).
Instead, Boone called upon Tonkin – seemingly the last man available in the bullpen – who had been designated for assignment three times this month (twice by the Mets).
Tonkin stranded the winning run at third base in the 10th inning, but after the Yankees went down quietly in the top of the 11th, the Brewers surged in the bottom of the inning.
Giancarlo Stanton, who has struggled as a pinch hitter during his career (3-for-42 Friday), delivered off the bench in the top of the 10th inning.
He hit a groundout double to score the automatic runner for a 6-5 lead, although the Yankees were unable to add any insurance runs.
Three home runs by Juan Soto, Alex Verdugo and Trent Grisham had given the Yankees a 5-4 lead entering the fourth inning.
From there, however, their attack calmed down.
Brewers right-hander Colin Rea and the bullpen then gave up 10 in a row and 13 of the next 14.
The Yankees threatened in the top of the ninth as Alex Verdugo drew a one-out walk, but he was erased trying to steal second base.
Oswaldo Cabrera then drew a two-out walk, but Jose Trevino got a groundout to end the inning.
Clay Holmes pitched a scoreless bottom of the ninth – giving him 13 straight appearances without allowing an earned run to start the season – to send the game to extras.
After not giving up a home run in his first four starts of the season, Luis Gil was caught twice Friday night.
They accounted for four of the season-high five runs he allowed in five-plus innings.
Gil took the mound to start the sixth inning, protecting a 5-4 lead with a three-run homer from Grisham for his first hit of the season.
But former Yankee Gary Sanchez roped Gil’s second pitch of the inning to left field for a double, ending the right-hander’s night.
Ron Marinaccio relieved Gil and got a groundout that allowed Sanchez to move up to third base before scoring on a Joey Ortiz sacrifice fly that tied the game at five.
The Yankees had taken an early 2-0 lead as Soto and Verdugo each hit a solo home run in the first two innings.
But the Brewers quickly tied things up in the bottom of the second, when Ortiz – part of the Orioles’ comeback in Corbin Burnes’ blockbuster – clubbed his first big league home run, a two-run shot off Gil.
The Brewers then took a 4-2 lead in the third inning when Gil ran into trouble with two outs.
Rhys Hoskins extended the inning with a single before Bryce Perkins – who spent the 2022 season in the Yankees farm system and lived with Anthony Volpe’s family in New Jersey while playing for Double-A Somerset – n ‘Crushes a two-run homer on a 96 mph fastball at the top of the zone.
But the Yankees found an immediate response, delivered by Grisham.
The former Brewers 2015 first-round pick was just starting his sixth game of the season and entered the night going 0 for 12 with two walks.
After Cabrera singled and Austin Wells scored two outs in the fourth inning, Grisham came to the plate and hit a long ball down the right field line that was simply a foul.
Two pitches later, however, he hit another pitch and stayed just right for a three-run homer into the second deck, giving the Yankees a 5-4 lead.
New York Post
