The Yankees needed to be at their best in a must-win game two, with a loss putting them on the brink of elimination and in danger of being swept out of the ALDS.
Instead, the Yankee defense was at its worst, to historic levels, and never gave the team a chance.
Three first inning errors set the tone for a despicable fielding display that brought on nightmare flashbacks to the infamous fifth inning of game five in the 2024 World Series. Yandy Diaz, the first batter for the Rays in the first, hit a seemingly routine ground ball to Ryan McMahon, who seemingly got a belt-high charity hop but misplayed the ball to allow Diaz to reach. After a hard single by Jonathan Aranda, a ground ball up the middle was fielded by George Lombard Jr., who flipped to Jazz Chisholm for the force at second. There was nearly no chance at a double play, but Chisholm did a 180 degree spin and aimlessly fired towards first, well wide of Luis Garcia Jr.. A run scored, and miraculously, there was no further damage in the inning.
The inning could have been a lot worse when Chisholm flipped to second for a force out, but threw it wide and pulled Lombard off the bag. The rookie shortstop recovered, and Schlittler overcame a third error in the inning, a catcher's interference by Austin Wells, to keep the score at 1-0.
The three errors were the most by the Yankees in a playoff inning ever in their history.
The Yanks tied it on a Ben Rice home run, but the defense came apart again at Schlittler's expense. With runners on second and third and nobody out, a ground ball to second could have potentially led to an out at home, but Chisholm seemed to be the only infielder not playing in on the grass. By the time he fielded the chopper, his only play was to first, and a run scored.
Another grounder with the infield in was mishandled shortly after, as Lombard tried to hurry a throw home but mishandled the grounder before he could make the play. He made another error later in the inning, pulling Garcia off the bag at first with an errant throw, his defensive struggles from the regular season resurfacing at the worst possible time.
The Yankees' five errors tied a franchise record in a playoff game, previously set in the 1976 ALCS. The 2026 Yanks were actually saved from sharing that piece of history, as the official scorekeeper took away one of Lombard's errors (the misplay on the grounder with the infield in during the fifth inning), to take one error of the scoreboard.
The defensive nightmare led to a lopsided 5-2 loss that has the Yanks on the brink of elimination, and they will fight for their playoff lives on Wednesday when the series shifts to the Bronx for game three.
The Yanks committed four errors in a critical game two.
The Yanks committed four errors in a critical game two.
