Yankees' extra-inning woes continue in 5-4 loss to Reds

The Yankees' bullpen wasted Carlos Rodon's efforts, and the team's extra-inning woes continued, as New York fell 5-4 in the 11th inning.

New York entered the 11th batting .770 with a .270 OPS while driving in one run in extras all year. So, of course, the Yankees would push across a run, but it happened without a hit. After Cody Bellinger moved Aaron Judge — the ghost runner — to third on a sharp groundout, Judge scampered home on a wild pitch.

But it wasn't enough as the Yankees allowed two runs as the Reds clinched the three-game series.

Here are the takeaways…

-Tuesday saw the major league debut of Chase Burns, the Reds' flamethrowing righty, and No. 1 prospect, and he didn't disappoint. Burns struck out the first five batters he faced before Jazz Chisholm Jr.'s single in the second inning. Burns bounced back by getting Anthony Volpe to strike out swinging. Burns' fastball averaged around 96 mph and the combination of his heater and breaking pitches that ranged from 88-93 mph kept Yankees hitters off balance.

Burns would get through the order the first time with no problems, but Ben Rice led off the fourth inning by launching a 427-foot bomb on the first-pitch slider to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. The Yankees would get a couple of singles to put a runner in scoring position with two outs for Volpe. The Yankee shortstop hit a liner toward TJ Friedl, but the Reds center fielder made an ill-advised dive and let the ball get past him for a two-run triple.

That was all the runs the Yankees would get on Burns, though. The young phenom threw 81 pitches (53 strikes) across five innings, allowing three runs on six hits while striking out eight batters.

-Opposite the rookie was veteran Rodon, who had his second consecutive strong start. The southpaw scattered four hits and one walk over six innings (88 pitches/53 strikes) while striking out five, with the only inning where Rodon was in trouble coming in the fourth after a one-out double by Spencer Steer, but the Reds stranded him.

Rodon now has five starts this season of six-plus innings pitched without allowing a run. Tarik Skubal is the only pitcher with more such starts this year. His ERA dropped to 2.92 on the season with Tuesday's performance.

-Unfortunately for the Yanks, their bullpen could not hold the lead. Jonathan Loaisiga walked Tyler Stephenson after the home plate umpire squeezed him on a potential third strike. Then Rece Hinds and Jose Trevino singled to load the bases before Christian Encarnacion-Strand lined a double to left that cleared the bases — helped by a Cody Bellinger bobble in the corner.

Loaisiga was pulled with what looked like an apparent injury, but the reliever was sitting in the dugout while Fernando Cruz finished the inning without allowing the go-ahead run to score.

The combination of Luke Weaver and Devin Williams pitched scoreless eighth and ninth, and Mark Leiter Jr. pitched a scoreless 10th. But Aaron Boone asked Leiter to pitch a second inning, and the right-hander couldn't do it, giving up a walk and three hits to allow the two runs that won the Reds the game.

-The Yankees' offense could not get going after that three-run fourth inning. While they did get seven hits, they were 1-for-7 with RISP and left four men on base.

Chisholm was the only hitter to have multiple hits (2-for-4) but was ejected between innings in the ninth after he argued balls and strikes after home plate umpire Mark Wegner called a low pitch a strike that would have pushed the count to 3-0. Chisholm would eventually strike out with a runner on first.

Judge went 1-for-5 with a run scored, and his batting average is now .364 on the season. He came up with the bases loaded and two outs in the 10th, but the AL MVP popped out to second base to end the threat.

Game MVP: Reds bullpen

After Burns allowed the three runs, the Cincy bullpen allowed the one unearned run in six innings to allow the comeback.

Highlights

What's next

The Yankees and Reds complete their three-game set on Wednesday night. First pitch is set for 7:10 p.m.

Max Fried (9-2, 2.05 ERA) will take the mound while the Reds will send Brady Singer (7-5, 4.13 ERA) to the bump.

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