Bullpen Falters Late as Yankees Let Rain-Delayed Sweep Slip Away

Bullpen Falters Late as Yankees Let Rain-Delayed Sweep Slip Away

By John Nielsen

April 6, 2026

***

A long Easter Sunday in the Bronx ended the wrong way for the Yankees.

After a three-and-a-half hour rain delay pushed the first pitch into the early evening, the Miami Marlins outlasted New York 7–6, spoiling a sweep and flipping the script from Saturday night’s 9–7 Yankee win. This time, it was the Yankees who built an early cushion—and the Marlins who surged late, then barely held on with the tying and winning runs on base in the final frame. The loss dropped New York to 7–2.

Originally scheduled for 1:35 p.m., the game didn’t begin until shortly after 5:10, when the tarp was finally peeled away and play resumed under overcast skies.

The Yankees turned to ace left-hander Max Fried (2–0), while Miami countered with an unconventional plan. Right-hander Pete Fairbanks, headed to Tampa later that evening for paternity leave, was deployed as an opener, with scheduled starter Chris Paddack (0–1) shifting into a long relief role.

Miami struck first. Former Yankee Austin Slater singled, stole second, and scored on Otto Lopez’s base hit up the middle, marking the first run allowed by Fried this season and the third consecutive game in which the Marlins scored in the opening inning.

The Yankees answered immediately. Trent Grisham worked a walk, Aaron Judge flared a single to right-center, and Ben Rice did the rest. With one out, Rice crushed a 410-foot, second-deck blast to right, turning a 1–0 deficit into a 3–1 lead. It was his third home run in four games. Fairbanks completed the inning, then departed for the airport.

New York added on in the third. Judge opened with a ringing double off the center-field wall, Cody Bellinger drew a walk, and a Marlins throwing error allowed Judge to score, extending the lead to 4–1 with runners on second and third and nobody out. It felt like the Yankees were on the verge of breaking this one open, early.

It didn’t happen.

Paddack regrouped, retiring Giancarlo Stanton, Jazz Chisholm Jr., and Austin Wells to escape the inning without further damage—a sequence that quietly shifted momentum.

Fried, meanwhile, labored. Unlike his nearly flawless outing earlier in the week in Seattle, he had to grind through an elevated pitch count as Miami hitters repeatedly spoiled pitches and extended at-bats. Xavier Edwards’ RBI double trimmed the lead to 4–2 in the fourth, and the pressure intensified in the sixth.

A walk and a single, followed by a stolen base, put the tying runs in scoring position with no outs. Then came a defensive miscue: Heriberto Hernandez’s routine grounder to short resulted in a high throw from Jose Caballero, pulling Rice off the bag and making it 4–3, with runners on the corners.

From there, Fried somehow escaped.

He picked Hernandez off first after a replay review, recording his 37th career pickoff—the most in the majors since 2017. Moments later, another replay reversal erased what was initially ruled a run at the plate. With the infield in, a soft grounder produced a bang-bang play at home. Though the runner was initially called safe, replay showed Wells had applied the tag before the plate was touched. Fried escaped the inning having thrown 98 pitches, still clinging to a 4–3 lead.

Showing resolve, Fried returned for the seventh and needed just five pitches to record two outs before turning the game over to Fernando Cruz, who completed the inning.

Then it unraveled.

The Yankee bullpen—after throwing 110 pitches the night before—couldn’t shut the door. Cruz recorded an out in the eighth before issuing a walk and giving way to Jake Bird, who failed to retire a batter. Bird walked one, hit another, and surrendered a two-run double to Graham Pauley. Xavier Edwards followed with a two-run single off Ryan Yarbrough, pushing Miami’s lead to 7–4 and turning a controlled game into a late three-run deficit.

The Yankees mounted one last charge in the ninth. Facing Anthony Bender, who they roughed up Saturday night, the Pinstripes pushed across two runs, capped by a run-scoring double by Chisholm. After an intentional walk to Wells loaded the bases with two outs, J.C. Escarra was summoned to pinch-hit. He struck out swinging to end it.

Jon King (1–0) earned the win, and Bender picked up his first save.

Game Notes:

• The Yankees managed just seven hits but drew nine walks, setting a franchise record for walks in a three-game series (30)

• New York went 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position, leaving 11 men on base; Miami finished 3-for-9 and stranded five

• Miami won 10 of 13 ABS challenges in the series; the Yankees went just 1-for-7

• Fried’s extended outing limited the bullpen to 49 pitches

• The Yankees remain atop the AL East at 7–2, three games ahead of Toronto and Tampa Bay; Baltimore (3–6) sits four back, Boston (2–7) five

• New York is off today and opens a three-game set against the Athletics on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium