NEW YORK — The Yankees’ bullpen had been building something encouraging. Thursday night ripped it apart in a single inning.
Camilo Doval gave up a pinch-hit grand slam in the eighth inning, and Tim Hill failed to hold the game before him, turning a close contest into a 5-1 loss to the White Sox at Yankee Stadium.
The collapse arrived at the worst time, just as evidence was mounting that the relief corps had quietly steadied itself.
How the game slipped away
The Yankees carried a 1-1 tie into the eighth, with Ryan Weathers having kept Chicago in check for 6 1/3 innings. The bullpen needed three outs. It could not get them cleanly.
Hill entered and hit two of the three batters he faced, including plunking Tristan Peters on an 0-2 pitch that loaded the bases. Sam Antonacci had already ripped a pinch-hit double off Fernando Cruz to set the damage in motion.
Doval then came on and faced former Yankee Andrew Benintendi. On his very first pitch, a 99.8 mph sinker, Benintendi pulled it into the right-field seats for a grand slam that broke the game open.
The Yankees had produced 22 runs over the first two games of the White Sox series. They added just one in the finale, a Ryan McMahon homer in the third, and never recovered from the eighth-inning breakdown.
Doval’s response in the aftermath
Doval has carried an ERA above 5.00 for much of the Yankees season, and left-handed hitters have torn him apart against the Yankees. Entering Thursday, they were hitting .368 against him with a .979 OPS.
After the loss, he acknowledged the results have not matched his expectations. He showed no signs of panic, insisting that a turnaround is coming.
“Slumps are part of the game as baseball players. We all go through them,” Doval said through interpreter Marlon Abreu. “I’m not exactly getting the results that I expect of myself right this moment, but I know they’re coming. I know a good streak is coming.”
When asked specifically about the Benintendi at-bat, Doval kept it simple.
“Sometimes that’s the game. My focus is to execute the pitch,” Doval said. “Once I do that, it’s baseball, right?”
Boone on the struggles
Manager Aaron Boone offered an assessment that mixed support for Doval with a clear-eyed reading of what has gone wrong. He pointed to pitch execution and the left-handed matchup issue.
“Some of those lefties haven’t missed against him,” Boone said. “Benintendi went up there hunting very aggressively, first pitch, and pulled the ball down and in. He’s missed some spots in some situations that have hurt him.”
Boone added he believes Doval can still be effective for the Yankees. The Yankees manager’s confidence in him has not wavered, even as the results keep complicating that stance.
The turnaround that was emerging
The timing of Thursday’s collapse makes it sting more for the Yankees. The bullpen had been quietly compiling a strong stretch heading into the game.
From June 1 through June 16, New York’s relievers posted a second-ranked 2.20 ERA across the league, while also finishing first in FIP at 2.43 and first in wins above replacement among all bullpens. The strikeout rate of 10.40 per nine innings ranked fourth in the majors over that span.
David Bednar had not allowed an earned run all month. Fernando Cruz, Ryan Yarbrough, and Brent Headrick each carried ERAs of 1.35 after six-plus innings of work. Paul Blackburn was at 1.50. The unit had developed real depth.
Boone had specifically praised Headrick before Thursday’s game.
“He’s been huge down there,” Boone said of the reliever. “He just continues to solidify himself and find himself at this level. He’s pitching with a lot of confidence.”
Where the concerns remain
Even with the recent stretch, the season-long picture for the Yankees still shows vulnerabilities. The relief corps owns a 3.33 ERA on the year, which ranks fourth in the majors, but the advanced metrics show more cracks.
The bullpen’s 8.73 strikeouts per nine innings ranks 14th, and the average fastball velocity of 94.5 mph sits 13th. Those numbers reflect a group that limits damage but lacks the swing-and-miss ceiling of elite units.
Doval (5.08 ERA over 28 1/3 innings) and Jake Bird (ERA above 5.00) continue to be the two drags pulling the group down. Both have struggled to rediscover prior form with the Yankees, and neither has done enough to quiet calls for roster action.
Internal options and the deadline picture
The Yankees have reinforcements coming, and that shapes how aggressively they approach the Aug. 3 deadline.
Top prospect Carlos Lagrange has been converted to a bullpen role in the minors and is considered a legitimate second-half candidate. Max Fried’s expected return would shift Ryan Weathers into relief. Weathers bounced back Thursday with a sharp outing, and Boone also left the door open for Yovanny Cruz to return after his brief debut earlier this season.
Most industry sources still expect Brian Cashman to add to the bullpen before the deadline. But given the recent run of success, the Yankees may not need the trio of arms they acquired at last year’s deadline. One high-impact arm might be the more precise target now. Thursday was a reminder of exactly why that need remains real, even when the group has shown it can be better.
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