MILWAUKEE — Cam Schlittler gave the Yankees six shutout innings on a bum leg. The bullpen had a 2-1 lead to protect entering the eighth. It could not hold it.
Then Camilo Doval took the mound. And it all fell apart.
The Yankees lost 4-3 in 10 innings Saturday night at American Family Field. It was their third defeat in four games and a series loss to a Brewers team they should have beaten. At the center was a bullpen problem building for weeks. Doval is its most visible symbol.
What happened in the eighth inning
Brent Headrick had gotten through most of the seventh before giving up a homer to Jake Bauers. The Yankees still led 2-1 when Doval entered with one out in the eighth.
He started cleanly enough. Jackson Chourio popped up to Austin Wells for the second out. Then the inning unraveled.
Doval gave up a single to Brice Turang. He then allowed Turang to steal second base. Controlling the running game has never been a strength for Doval, and this was a reminder of that. William Contreras followed with a single to right-center that scored Turang and tied the game at 2-2.
The lead Schlittler had handed the Yankees bullpen was gone. What remained was a 2-2 tie, a disgruntled dugout and a reliever who had once again failed in a moment that mattered.
The game eventually extended to the 10th. Ryan McMahon put the Yankees back in front with a two-out single. Cruz issued a walk and spiked a pitch to the backstop. The automatic runner moved to third. Hill fielded a comebacker and threw wildly to third, hitting Luis Rengifo. William Contreras ended it with a sacrifice fly.
Doval was not the only reliever who failed Saturday. Hill’s decision to attempt the long throw sealed the loss. But the eighth inning was Doval’s to own, and he did not hold it.
Doval’s numbers tell a troubling story
The Yankees acquired Doval at last July’s trade deadline from the San Francisco Giants. He was supposed to fill the setup role in front of closer David Bednar. The early results in 2026 have not supported that plan.
Doval entered Saturday with a 6.14 ERA in 2026. In 32.2 innings with the Yankees dating back to last August, he has posted a 5.23 ERA. He has allowed 32 hits and 19 earned runs while striking out 38. He has given up five home runs in that span. None of those numbers describe a trusted setup man.
In eighth-inning appearances this season, including Saturday’s game, Doval owns a 9.39 ERA across 7.2 innings. The Yankees have counted on him to be the bridge between Schlittler or another starter and Bednar in tight games. He has not been that pitcher.
His pattern has been consistent and frustrating for Yankees fans. After opening 2026 with three scoreless outings, he has allowed at least one earned run in seven of his next 14 appearances. That cycle has made him one of the least reliable arms in the Yankees bullpen.
The one development that makes Doval’s struggles confusing is a sharp reduction in walks. He has a 5.0 percent walk rate in 2026, which would be a career low over a full season. He is not walking batters the way he once did. Yet the results remain poor.
That contradiction points to a different problem. Doval’s 3.01 expected ERA, per Baseball Savant, ranks in the 82nd percentile. His underlying contact metrics are not catastrophic. His stuff is real. The velocity is still there. There are outings where no one can touch him. There are others where he cannot locate the ball or make a critical pitch when the Yankees need it most.
A gem wasted: how the bullpen let Schlittler down
Cam Schlittler left the game after six innings having allowed two hits, struck out six and walked nobody. He threw 97 pitches despite pitching through calf pain from the first-inning comebacker. His ERA dropped to a major league-best 1.35. He had given the Yankees everything.
What came after was a collective failure.
Brent Headrick allowed a solo home run to Jake Bauers in the seventh, cutting the Yankees lead to 2-1. Doval surrendered the tying run in the eighth. Fernando Cruz walked the leadoff hitter in the 10th and threw a wild pitch. Tim Hill fielded a comebacker and made a poor throw to third. Contreras hit a walk-off sacrifice fly.
Four relievers. Two runs allowed after the sixth. One throwing error that opened the walk-off door. Schlittler’s night should have been about historic dominance.
Instead it became about a Yankees bullpen that cannot be trusted in tight games.
The Yankees offense went 3-for-14 with runners in scoring position and stranded nine on base. Runs were hard to come by. That made Doval’s eighth-inning failure the difference between a Yankees win and a series loss.
A bullpen problem that will not disappear on its own
The Yankees are still 26-14 and the best team in the American League. This is not a crisis. But the bullpen is the franchise’s most glaring weakness, and Doval is the most acute version of that problem.
Bednar has been reliable as the closer. Tim Hill has been a useful lefty specialist until Saturday’s costly throw. The middle innings have been unreliable. Doval at the front of that group makes every Yankees lead feel uncertain once a starter exits.
Saturday was one game. Doval’s track record over nine months is a longer concern. The Yankees have not solved it yet.
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