PHOENIX — One inning turned a road series the Yankees appeared ready to salvage into a loss that followed them all the way back to the Bronx.
New York carried a three-run lead into the bottom of the fifth Sunday at Chase Field. By the time the inning ended, Nolan Arenado had circled the bases, Arizona had scored five times and the Yankees were behind for good in an 8-4 loss to the Diamondbacks.
The defeat dropped the Yankees to 89-66 and six games behind the Tampa Bay Rays with seven games remaining. It also ended a 1-2 trip to Arizona after New York opened the series with a 9-2 win, then lost twice in games that turned late.
The Yankees have already secured a postseason berth and still hold the top American League wild-card position. But the final week now carries a different urgency. Tampa Bay can clinch the AL East with one victory during the four-game series that begins Tuesday at Yankee Stadium.
Sunday also extended a sharp reversal after Friday’s opener. Saturday ended with Pavin Smith’s walk-off homer against Michael Fulmer. The finale brought a different bullpen failure but the same damage in the standings.
A four-run inning should have changed the afternoon
Arizona scored first on Geraldo Perdomo’s RBI single in the opening inning. Will Warren then settled in, keeping the Diamondbacks from adding on through the fourth and giving the lineup time to attack Corbin Burnes.
That attack arrived suddenly in the third.
Heliot Ramos tied the game with his 13th home run. George Lombard Jr. followed later in the inning with a two-run shot, his fifth.
Lombard’s drive traveled a Statcast-projected 424 feet, the longest homer of his major league career.
Spencer Jones went deep immediately afterward for his 11th. He followed with a projected 448-foot shot. The two rookie blasts traveled 872 feet combined.
The Yankees had turned a 1-0 deficit into a 4-1 lead and forced Burnes out after only 2 2/3 innings. It looked like the kind of young-player surge that could carry a lineup missing injured regulars.
Instead, those four runs became the Yankees’ entire offense.
Nineteen outs show how completely the game flipped
Five Diamondbacks relievers combined for 6 1/3 scoreless innings after Burnes departed. The Yankees managed only three hits against that group and did not score over the final 19 outs.
Justin Martinez worked a scoreless fifth and earned the victory, improving to 3-0. Brent Headrick took the loss, falling to 7-4. No save was awarded.
The Yankees still finished the day with an American League-leading 216 home runs, but the power could not cover the breakdown that followed.
Warren and Headrick lose the fifth
Warren entered the fifth protecting the 4-1 lead. Lars Nootbaar doubled, Ketel Marte singled and Gabriel Moreno walked, loading the bases with one out. Aaron Boone went to Brent Headrick, one of the Yankees’ most frequently used bullpen arms.
Headrick struck out Perdomo, then walked Corbin Carroll with the bases loaded to make it 4-2. Arenado pulled a fastball just foul down the left-field line before crushing the next pitch for a grand slam and a 6-4 Arizona lead.
Headrick was making his 79th appearance, the second-highest total in the majors, and his average fastball velocity was reportedly about 1.3 mph below his season norm.
Headrick said the problem was location, not fatigue.
“I felt good, just lack of execution and falling behind hitters,” Headrick said.
Warren left charged with four runs on six hits and three walks in 4 1/3 innings. Boone has said Warren will make one more regular-season start against Baltimore before shifting to the bullpen for October.
Warren backed the reliever who inherited his jam.
“He’s been a dog for us all year,” Warren said. “It sucks, but obviously we rely on him, and he’s been really good for us all year, and he’s going to continue to be good.”
Arizona adds on while Yankees bullpen falters
Perdomo tripled home a run against John Schreiber in the seventh, and Carroll followed with an RBI single for the final 8-4 margin. Arizona finished with seven unanswered runs and secured its MLB-leading 47th comeback victory.
The Yankees also lost a planned bullpen look at Clarke Schmidt. The right-hander stopped warming because of cramping near his surgically repaired arm. Initial strength testing was encouraging, and Schmidt was expected to be examined after the club returned to New York.
Why this may be Yankees’ costliest loss of 2026
After two straight losses in Arizona, the Yankees return to Yankee Stadium with Tampa Bay positioned to end the AL East race on New York’s field.
The damage extends beyond one blown lead. Tampa Bay now comes to the Bronx needing only one victory in Tuesday’s split doubleheader to clinch the AL East because that win would also secure the season-series tiebreaker.
That creates the most uncomfortable consequence of the Arizona collapse: The Yankees could be forced to watch the Rays celebrate a division title at Yankee Stadium, on the same field where New York hoped to keep the race alive into the final week.
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