Acce s the Yankees beat like never before Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Greg Joyce about the inside buzz on the Yankees. No matter how many good days the Yankees bullpen stacks up the rest of the way, there will still have been enough bad ones to create nightmares about what could happen in October. Count Tuesday among the latter, disastrously so. Together, Fernando Cruz and Mark Leiter Jr. gave up nine runs while recording no outs in an historically bad seventh inning, turning a tie game into a blowout 12-2 lo s to the Tigers on a crisp night at Yankee Stadium. It got ugly in a hurry, as Cruz and Leiter combined to record four walks, allow four hits, hit a batter, to s a wild pitch and throw only 14 of their Andrew Chafin Jersey 36 pitches for strikes. They became the first pair of Yankees pitchers ever to both give up four or more earned runs and not record an out, and only the fifth pair of relievers ever to achieve the dubious distinction in the same game, according to Stathead. I havent seen anything like that before, said Will Warren, whose six strong innings of two-run ball went for naught. Come back out tomorrow and try it again. Yankees pitcher Mark Leiter Jr. reacts after a two-run triple by the Tigers Kerry Carpenter in the seventh inning on Sept. 9, 2025. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post The Tigers (83-62) sent 10 men to the plate before the Yankees recorded an out courtesy of Tim Hill, with the crowd of 35,653 offering a Bronx cheer upon the completion of the Herculean feat with the first nine of them coming around to score to blow open what had been a 2-2 game. Its just one of those nights that we need to forget, Cruz said. This is a sport that, as you see, its not as easy as it looks. Sometimes youre on top of the horse. Sometimes you get out of it. So you learn how to go on top again. Youre never bigger than the game and you always learn from failures. Explore More The Yankees (80-64) dropped to three games back of the Blue Jays, who pulled off a late comeback win, for the division lead with 18 games to play, and the Red Sox 6-0 winners over the As on Tuesday night tied them for the top AL wild-card spot. On a night when on the franchise all-time home run list, with his 359th career blast, the Yankees ended up with a buzzkill to what had been a strong 4-2 start to their 12-game gauntlet against playoff contenders. Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe cannot catch a short pop-up hit by Detroit Tigers shortstop Trey Sweeney in the seventh inning. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post Yankees first baseman Ben Rice reacts after he was called out on strikes in the seventh inning. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post We have the guys down there to get it done, we just got to sync it up, manager Aaron Boone said of a bullpen that has a 4.40 ERA on the year, which ranks 22nd in the majors. Tonights a tough night, but it doesnt change a lot of the good things that have happened in some of these games weve been able to close out. Cruz, who had been mostly sharp since returning from the injured list, gave up a leadoff double to Riley Greene before i suing back-to-back walks to load the bases. Parker Meadows followed with a single to right field that made it a 3-2 game before Cruz walked a third batter to force in another run. Leiter then entered and gave up a bloop single to no-mans-land in shallow center field, hit the next batter on the foot with an errant splitter, walked Gleyber Torres, let in another run on a wild pitch and then got tagged for a two-run triple by Kerry Carpenter, at which point the Tigers led 10-2. Just a rough inning for us in getting in the strike zone, Boone said. Yankees pitcher Fernando Cruz walks off the field after he was taken out of the game in the seventh inning. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post CHECK OUT THE AND Hill was the third Yankees reliever of the frame and finally put out the fire, but long after it was too late to matter. Judge and Cody Bellinger had gone deep to stake the Yankees to a 2-0 lead through four innings until the Tigers tied in the fifth. Warren had retired 11 straight before i suing a leadoff walk, which came back to hurt when Meadows crushed a two-run homer. The Yankees had a prime opportunity to take the lead back in the bottom of the fifth, but squandered it. Their first two batters reached before Anthony Volpe popped out on a bunt attempt drawing another round of boos for the struggling shortstop Ryan McMahon struck out and Grisham flied out on a 3-0 pitch. Thats our chance to grab the lead there and hopefully run with it, Boone said. Just werent able to get it done. Marc Church Jersey