The New York Yankees were on a hot streak of six consecutive wins until their recent defeat against the Seattle Mariners last night broke their momentum. The Bronx was leading 4-1 till the eighth inning, but the game took a turn when Yankees' closer Clay Holmes entered the game in the ninth inning.
The Mariners completely changed the equation in the last inning by scoring four runs and thus winning the match by 5-4. Fans have been pretty upset with Holmes' performance in yesterday's game. However, it appears that the Yanks' dressing room is still backing him even after his disastrous performance.
Yankees' captain Aaron Judge has defended Holmes after a poor performance on the mound. In the post-game interview, he was asked if the loss was because of Holmes; he said that it wasn't and that every player who's of stature as Holmes can have their own bad day and shouldn't be judged simply based on that.
"To say it plain and simple, a loss is a loss. We have one of the best closers in the game and stuff like that is always bound to happen at some point, you never like to see it, never want that out come. But you know we lost, and we come out tomorrow make it right."
The Yanks are now surely going to be laser-focused on righting their wrongs in Game 2. It is to be seen if Aaron Boone and his men can change the first game's result in the second game or if this series' fate is locked in favor of the Mariners.
Clay Holmes owns up to his errors during the Yankees' outing vs. the Mariners
Yankees closer Clay Holmes has accepted the errors he made during his team's clash against the Mariners. During the post-game interview, he acknowledged that his pitches didn't go as planned. He somewhat blamed himself for the Yanks losing against the Mariners on Monday.
“That one’s on me. I feel like I made some good pitches, and definitely some balls found some holes, but I was ahead on a couple of guys there 0-2, 1-2, and put them on base. They could have been big outs.”
“It was one of those outings where I feel like my stuff was there. Maybe trying to go for a little too much chase with a couple of guys there. Some balls found some holes and it didn’t go our way there.”
Before this outing, Holmes had a 15 ⅔ scoreless innings streak which also ended. However, along with the Yankees's six-game winning streak, the closer's personal streak also came to an abrupt end with their 5 - 4 loss against the Mariners.