ARLINGTON, Texas — Clay Holmes' form was off, he lost control and he lost the game.
By the end of the night, the Yankees had also lost first place in the American League East.
A fielding error by D.J. LeMahieu in the bottom of the eighth set up a two-run chance to cut the Yankees' lead to one, but Holmes fumbled in the bottom of the ninth and the Rangers cruised to a 7-4 victory Tuesday night at Globe Life Field.
Wyatt Langford delivered the final blow with a grand slam to left field with one out and a full count.
With the bases loaded after consecutive walks, Holmes unleashed a slider down the middle of home plate, which Langford swatted back, spelling a brutal ending for the Yankees.
With the blowout loss — their fifth in their last seven games — the Yankees (80-59) dropped to second place in the AL East for the first time since Aug. 20, with the Orioles now half a game back in first place.
“I've pitched well and still lost,” Holmes said. “Obviously tonight was one of those times when I didn't pitch very well. I didn't pitch very well at all and the way I pitched I definitely didn't deserve to win.”
The missed save was Holmes' league-leading 11th of the season and was different from his other missed saves, but it further highlighted Holmes' struggles and the problems facing the tail end of the Yankees relief corps.
Asked if the Yankees need to move in a different direction with the closer position, manager Aaron Boone deflected.
“I'm not going to answer that question right now because I'm emotional,” Boone said. “We'll discuss it and do what we think is best.”
Boone had left himself open to making changes after Holmes' last missed save in the Little League Classic on Aug. 18, but Holmes converted all three of his save opportunities leading up to Tuesday.
Holmes, who has often fallen victim to soft contact as a ground ball pitcher this season, was injured in the game.
He steadily drove his sinker and slider into the ground, drawing walks to Josh Smith (3-2) and Marcus Semien (3-1) to load the bases with one out before Langford's homer.
“The pitch was wrong,” Holmes said. “I lost feel for the sinker.” [Slider]”We just let it go. I think we were a little bit too fast. We were giving it our commands. Obviously that hurt. That was tough. We've got to bounce back and show what we're made of.” [Wednesday].”
The Yankees led 4-1 going into the bottom of the eighth inning on a night when Carlos Rodon struck out a season-high 11 batters over six innings.
Smith, the leadoff batter, hit a high ball to first base, but Boone said it hit his glove and LeMahieu lost sight of it in right field, resulting in an error.
After Semien broke his bat off Jake Cousins for an infield hit with one out, Josh Jung hit a liner to second base, but Gleyber Torres tried to backhand it with a hop up the middle but couldn't get it out for an RBI single, making the score 4-2.
“Obviously it was a tough play on a fast track,” Boone said. “If he hits it, it could be a double play, but it's a tough play.”
After Cousins walked, Tim Hill came in to pitch and made it 4-3 on a sacrifice fly by Nathaniel Lowe, but he got out of the jam by striking out Jonah Heim.
But that only delayed the destruction.
“It's tough,” Rodon said. “Baseball is very cruel. It's a cruel sport. But I have a lot of faith in Clay Holmes. He's a good teammate, so I'm all for him. I'm looking forward to seeing him play again.”
Given that Holmes pitched for the second straight night on Tuesday, there doesn't appear to be a chance for a redemption in Wednesday's series finale, the final game of a 10-game stretch the Yankees will play.
But it remains to be seen when he'll next get a chance to make a save after that.
“He obviously struggled tonight,” Boone said. “He's really important to us and we need him to be a part of our team and be as good as he is.”
