The Yankees were one strike away from sweeping the Orioles on Thursday night, but instead lost a pivotal game in the Wild Card race against a 100-loss team.
The game came down to a wild pitch from Clay Holmes that got past Gary Sanchez, and after the game, Aaron Boone said that the errant fastball was one that Sanchez needs to be able to stop.
“Yeah, that heater up and away there, you probably gotta get to,” Boone said. “It’s obviously tough in that spot where it’s rainy and it’s wet, I think that probably affected pitchers grip-wise and stuff and footing. It was a tough night in that regard. Just a tough one that we gotta get over.
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“There were a couple that seemed like it slipped out for whatever reason, I’m sure the elements had something to do with that, but those are balls we gotta try and keep in front of us.”
With a 2-2 count on Austin Wynns, Sanchez set up for a pitch down in the zone, but Holmes’ fastball sailed up and away at 98 mph, glancing off the glove of Sanchez and to the backstop, allowing Kelvin Gutierrez to score the tying run before the Orioles walked it off in the 10th.
It was Holmes’ second wild pitch of the inning on a rainy night in Baltimore.
“Holmes threw the ball really well,” Boone said. “Should have been out of the inning.”
Sanchez led the league in passed balls in 2017, 2018 and 2020, and has seven so far this season. The two from Holmes on Thursday were ruled wild pitches, but at least on the one that gave up the lead, Boone thinks it could have been prevented.
“Frustrated, obviously,” Boone said. “I thought Clay threw the ball well, and should have closed it out.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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