Yankees' bullpen implodes as they drop first game of season with 7-5 loss to Diamondbacks

The Yankees were on the verge of victory, but the bullpen’s eighth-inning implosion led to New York’s 7-5 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium.

With the Yanks nursing a 4-3 lead in the eighth, reigning NL Player of the Week Eugenio Suarez launched his MLB-leading fifth home run — a grand slam — off of Mark Leiter Jr. to give the D-backs a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

Prior to that inning, Yankees pitching allowed just two runs on one hit.

-The fated eighth inning was the stuff of nightmares for the Yankees. With Devin Williams out on paternity leave, Luke Weaver was not available for the inning, so manager Aaron Boone went with Tim Hill to start. The southpaw allowed a double and single to start as Arizona cut the Yankees lead to 4-3. After Corbin Caroll ground out, Boone went with Leiter Jr. The right-hander walked Ketel Marte and Pavin Smith before striking out Josh Naylor. He was one pitch away from getting out of the inning before his splitter stayed out over the plate and Suarez launched his grand slam 376 feet over the left field wall.

Before that, the Yankees’ bullpen was great. Fernando Cruz struck out four in two perfect innings and newly acquired RHP Adam Ottavino allowed just one walk over his 0.2 innings.

–Will Warren, making his season debut, started off strong, getting through the first two innings in order with three strikeouts. He wouldn’t allow a baserunner until two outs in the third inning (a walk). Warren threw five straight balls before he grooved an 87 mph changeup over the plate to Carroll, who deposited it over the right field wall to put the D-backs ahead, 2-0.

Those location issues continued in the fourth as Warren walked his first two batters. A mound visit from pitching coach Matt Blake seemingly settled Warren down, who induced a 4-6-3 double play from Suarez and a ground out from Gabriel Moreno.

The young right-hander had to work to get the requisite five innings to qualify for the win. After giving up a lead-off walk, Warren got the next three batters out, including striking out Carroll swinging on a curveball in the dirt.

The 25-year-old had a 10.32 ERA across six games (five starts) a season ago and showed that his impressive spring was not a fluke. Warren threw five innings (85 pitches/46 strikes) while allowing two runs on one hit and four walks while striking out four.

–Cobrin Burnes entered Tuesday’s start with a 0-2 record against the Yankees but a minuscule 1.42 ERA in three career starts against the Yankees. In his first game as a Diamondback, the former CY Young winner was cruising until the third inning when he allowed a leadoff homer to Jasson Dominguez that went 377 feet over the right-center field wall. Ben Rice followed with a double, and then Oswaldo Cabrera walked, but Burnes got Paul Goldschmidt to pop out, before striking out Cody Bellinger and getting Aaron Judge to ground out to end the threat.

The Yankees were close to squandering a golden opportunity in the fourth. With men on second and third and one out, Rice struck out before Cabrera hit a weak grounder to Naylor. The former Guardians first baseman — who has plenty of history with the Yankees — airmailed a toss that went over Burnes’ glove, who was covering first. That allowed the two go-ahead runs to score.

-Dominguez was one of only a few Yankees to not go deep this season, but he got off the schneid with his blast. The young left fielder finished 2-for-3.

Anthony Volpe‘s fourth-inning blast went 418 feet and broke the MLB record for most home runs through a team’s first four games, which was set by the 2006 Tigers. It would be the shortstop’s only hit (1-4), but he struck out twice.

Rice would tack on his second home run of the season in the ninth to extend the Yankees’ new record to 18.

-Judge, Goldschmidt, Bellinger and Jazz Chssiholm Jr. went a combined 0-for-15 with a walk and nine strikeouts. Chisholm struck out four times. The Yankees as a team struck out 14 times.

The Yankees and Diamondbacks continue their three-game set on Wednesday night in The Bronx.

RHP Zac Gallen (0-1, 9.00 ERA) will take the mound for Arizona, while the Yankees will see LHP Carlos Rodon (1-0, 1.69 ERA) on the bump for the second time this season.

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Yankees’ bullpen implodes as they drop first game of season with 7-5 loss to Diamondbacks

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