The New York Yankees’ trade deadline haul got off to the most brutal start imaginable on Friday, with four different trade acquisitions combining to blow seven runs’ worth of leads.
The club acquired a trio of relievers at the deadline Thursday, bringing in David Bednar from the Pittsburgh Pirates, Jake Bird from the Colorado Rockies and Camilo Doval from the San Francisco Giants. They also brought in a few position players, including Tampa Bay Rays utility man José Caballero. All four made their Yankees debut the next day against the Miami Marlins.
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With a 9-4 lead in place when Bird took the mound in the seventh inning, it should have been a low-stress way for the right-hander to introduce himself to his new fans. Unfortunately, he got into a one-out, bases-loaded jam with Miami’s lone All-Star, Kyle Stowers, due up.
It did not end well for Bird.
Stowers’ grand slam cut the Yankees’ lead to one, prompting manager Aaron Boone to pull him for Bednar, who was one of the top relievers in the National League at the time of his trade.
Bednar got the second out, then allowed a game-tying homer from Javier Sanoja.
The damage kept coming after that, with three straight hits from Jakob Marsee, Xavier Edwards and Agustín Ramírez adding a go-ahead run before a Heriberto Hernandez pop-out ended the inning.
Fortunately for the new Yankees, an Anthony Volpe homer tied the game again in the eighth inning and a ninth-inning rally gave them a two-run lead. Two more trade deadline acquisitions, third baseman Ryan McMahon and Caballero, scored those ninth-inning runs.
Tempting fate, the Yankees brought in their third new reliever, Doval, to close out the game. He also got into a trouble, allowing two runners to reach base before this single to Xavier Edwards — a single that evaded the glove of Caballero to score both runners.
“You get to a point where you just can’t make this up,” Yankees broadcaster Paul O’Neill said after the error. “It’s like a Little League game going on out here.”
One batter later, Ramírez delivered the inevitable walk-off hit in a 13-12 Marlins win. It was the first time since 1940 the Yankees scored at least 12 runs on the road and lost, per Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press.
The full damage from the Yankees’ new-look bullpen:
The Yankees were one of most aggressive buyers at the deadline, especially in the relief market due to a bullpen that entered Friday ranked 20th in MLB in ERA at 4.19. A bad day for four of the seven guys acquired to fix those issues doesn’t automatically mean that effort was a favor, but it’s certainly not a good start.
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