About Last Night: Tigers 12, Yankees 2

About Last Night: Tigers 12, Yankees 2

By Derek McAdam

September 10, 2025

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The New York Yankees lost to the Detroit Tigers by a 12-2 score last night, with a bullpen breakdown in the 7th inning. Here is a quick recap of last night’s game.

Quick Stats: W: Casey Mize (14-5): 6 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 8 K

                     L: Fernando Cruz (2-4): 0 IP, 2 H, 5 ER, 3 BB

                     S: Chris Paddack (1): 3 IP, 4 K

HRs: DET: Parker Meadows (4), NYY: Aaron Judge (44), Cody Bellinger (28)

The Big Story:

The Yankees had a 4-2 record over two series against the Houston Astros and Toronto Blue Jays, both currently divisional leaders, and were looking to take the momentum into the new week after enjoying an off day on Monday.

Taking the mound for the Yankees was Will Warren, who was making his 30th start of the season, the most by a Yankee rookie since 1973. Mize was on the other side and was seeking a rebound start after having a rough second half of the season.

And it did not take the Yankees long to get on the board, when Aaron Judge hit his 44th home run of the season in the bottom of the 1st. The home run was his 359th career home run, which passed Yogi Berra for 5th all-time in Yankee history.

In the 4th, Cody Bellinger hit a solo home run into the second deck in right field to put the Yankees up 2-0.

After a longer first inning, Will Warren began to settle down and had several quick innings. Then in the 5th, Warren gave up a leadoff walk before Parker Meadows hit a two-run home run into right field to tie the game at 2-2.

In the bottom of the inning, the Yankees had runners on first and second to leadoff the inning, Anthony Volpe popped up on a bunt attempt and Ryan McMahon struck out. With a 3-0 count, Trent Grisham popped up to center field to end the inning with Judge on deck.

To begin the 7th, Fernando Cruz came on and gave up a lead-off double before walking two consecutive batters to load the bases with no one out. Meadows laced an RBI single into right field to give the Tigers a 3-2 lead and extend the rally. Cruz then walked in a run to give the Tigers a 4-2 lead and end his night without recording an out. Mark Leiter Jr. came on and gave up a bloop single into center field to give the Tigers a 5-2 lead. The lead extended to 6-2 on the next batter when Leiter hit Colt Keith on the foot. Gleyber Torres then walked to give the Tigers a 7-2 lead and continue the inning still with no outs.

A wild pitch scored another run to make it 8-2 Tigers. Kerry Carpenter then hit a two-run triple into left center field to make the new score 10-2 Tigers, pushing Leiter out of the game STILL with no outs. The Tigers also got another run on an RBI fielders choice to make the new score 11-2.

The Tigers got another run in the 8th to make it 12-2 following an error from McMahon to keep the inning going.

Player of the Game:

Meadows had a couple of big hits for the Tigers and had the ultimate game-winning hit.

Notable Performances:

Both Warren and Mize had good starts for their respective teams. Paddack also had a nice outing for his first career save, saving the Tigers’ bullpen for the next couple of games in this series.

Better to Forget:

Cruz and Leiter would love to forget their disastrous 7th innings, as neither recorded a single out and were responsible for nine total runs.

My Take:

What an absolute disaster of a game for the Yankee bullpen. Warren was doing well through six, giving up the one mistake to Meadows, and then Aaron Boone turned it over to the bullpen. Cruz had been doing well in his several appearances since his return from the IL, but it was a challenge for him to even find the strike zone.

And to make it worse, Leiter came in and was just as bad, if not worse, than Cruz.

Aaron Boone definitely looked desperate when he brought in Tim Hill, who has been the go-to pitcher in almost any situation no matter to score, to try and record outs. While this is only one game and one loss, I mentioned in my article last week that every game at this point matters. And this is one that stings a lot.

My biggest concern from this game is this game potentially being a foreshadowing moment as to what may come. Is the bullpen going to start breaking down even more or was this just a one-off occurrence? The nine runs were the most given up in a single inning since Carlos Rodon’s disastrous outing in Kansas City towards the end of the 2023 season. However, this disastrous inning is a lot more important than that 2023 outing for Rodon, since the Yankees were not making the playoffs that season regardless.

The Yankee offense did not do much to help the team either, as there were only four total hits in the game, the last of which came in the 5th inning with no outs.

At least there was one positive thing to take away from last night’s game, that being Judge’s historic home run. Congratulations to the Captain for changing the Yankee history books for this particular category for the first time in approximately 60 years (maybe even more).

For the Yankees, the best thing is to move on from last night’s game and focus on tonight’s game. Hopefully, they can force a rubber game and go for the series win tomorrow, but they absolutely have to put last night’s disaster in the rearview mirror and say it was just a one-off event.

What’s Next?:

The Yankees will be back in action tonight against the Tigers for the second game of this three-game series. Jack Flaherty is likely to start for the Tigers, while Carlos Rodon will take the mound for the Yankees. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. from Yankee Stadium.