NEW YORK — A team can do the near-impossible and still lose. The Yankees proved it Saturday afternoon in the Bronx, and it stung all the more because a rival had already handed them a gift they never opened.
The Yankees spent most of the day at the mercy of Toronto right-hander Dylan Cease, who carried a no-hit bid into the seventh even as he fought his command. Cease walked five and threw only 60 of his 111 pitches for strikes, handing out free baserunners the Yankees did nothing with.
New York did not record a hit until there were two outs in the seventh, when Jazz Chisholm Jr. looped a single to right field. Austin Wells followed with an RBI single that chased Cease and put the Yankees on the board at 3-1. Cease left with two hits allowed, eight strikeouts and five walks over 6 2/3 innings.
It was the second straight season Cease has taken a no-hit bid deep against the Yankees at the Stadium, having also carried one into the seventh there on May 7, 2025. On July 8 this year, he lost a no-hitter in the ninth at San Francisco, broken up by Heliot Ramos, now a Yankee.
The bigger problem for the Yankees was not one dominant start. It was a pattern. Trent Grisham reached third base with one out in the first inning and did not score. Spencer Jones reached third with one out in the second and did not score either. New York has now gone 21 straight games without pushing a run across in the first inning.
The insurance run Yankees could not outrun
One swing from Toronto proved to be the difference, and it looked routine when it happened. Nathan Lukes led off the eighth inning with a home run that pushed the lead to 4-1. At the time, it read as a comfortable cushion.
Then Garcia answered with his two-run shot, turning Lukes’ blast into the decisive run. The Yankees had two more chances to erase it. In the seventh, Trent Grisham came up with the bases loaded and grounded out. In the ninth, after Chisholm doubled and reached third as the tying run, Grisham struck out to end it.
Here is a number that captures the day and has gone largely unnoticed: the Yankees stranded a runner at third base with one out in three separate innings, the first, the second and the ninth, and scored in none of them. For a lineup already scuffling, the failure to convert 90 feet three different ways was the game in miniature.
A first that nobody had managed all year
The moment that briefly made the Bronx believe belonged to Luis Garcia Jr. Down 4-1 in the eighth inning, the Yankees first baseman turned on a pitch from Toronto reliever Tyler Rogers and drove it out for a two-run home run that cut the margin to a single run.
It was more than a late jolt. It was something no hitter had done to Rogers all season. The submarine-style right-hander had not allowed a home run in any appearance this year until Garcia caught up to him. The blast made the score 4-3 and turned a quiet afternoon into a live one.
Rogers gave up the last homer on September 20, 2025, while pitching for the Mets against the Nationals. His latest homer came after 336 days.
That the Yankees produced their loudest swing against a pitcher who had been untouchable in that regard summed up the day. The one thing that went right came with history attached, and it still was not enough to avoid the 4-3 loss.
A clubhouse pointing at a long injury list
The loss capped a day that started badly. Before the game, manager Aaron Boone said Giancarlo Stanton had strained his calf for a third time this season. Then, in the fourth inning, left-hander Ryan Weathers walked off the mound with what the team called left forearm discomfort and required immediate imaging.
Chisholm spoke from a subdued Yankees clubhouse afterward, capturing the mood of a team that has spent weeks absorbing bad news.
“This game does not hold anybody’s hand,” Chisholm said.
Asked about the lineup’s continued struggles, Chisholm joked about the length of the Yankees’ injury report, which already includes Aaron Judge, Max Fried and Ryan McMahon.
“The IL team is great,” Chisholm said.
Boone declined to speculate on Weathers’ prognosis but acknowledged the timing of losing a pitcher who had been rolling.
“Obviously, you never want significant pieces to go down, but again, that’s part of it,” Boone said. “I feel like we’re throwing the ball incredibly well and expect to continue to do that. In the short term, that creates an opportunity for someone else.”
Yankees still have AL East chances
Tampa Bay had lost earlier in the weekend, meaning a New York win would have trimmed the division deficit to two games. Instead, the Yankees stayed three back after the loss.
The defeat snapped a five-game winning streak and dropped the Yankees to 73-56, three games behind the first-place Rays. Cease earned the win, Weathers took the loss, and Louis Varland struck out Grisham with a runner on third for his 29th save in 30 chances.
New York has been held to three runs or fewer in 22 of its last 33 games. With Stanton’s season in doubt and Weathers awaiting test results, the offense that carried the recent surge suddenly looks thin heading into the stretch run.
The Yankees can still take the series Sunday at the Stadium, with Carlos Rodon set to make his second start since returning from the injured list. Another chance arrives quickly. Whether the bats do, too, is the question that follows them into September.
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