Let down by defense in blown save Holmes (1-4) took the loss and blew the save against Baltimore on Sunday, allowing three unearned runs on two hits and two walks while striking out one batter over two-thirds of an... Impact In a roller-coaster ninth inning, New York scored three runs in the top of the frame to take a 5-3 lead. Holmes entered to try to close things out in the bottom of the inning but couldn't get the job done, giving up three runs, the final two of which came on a Cedric Mullins walk-off double. Though he didn't pitch particularly well, it would be unfair to pin the blame entirely on Holmes for the dramatic defeat, as a two-out error by Anthony Volpe allowed a run to score and kept the frame alive for Mullins' double, which had an xBA of .150, per Statcast -- Alex Verdugo took a terrible route to the ball and pinned the blame on himself for the result after the game, according to Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. It was nonetheless a poor end to the first half of the campaign for Holmes, who has blown two of his past four save chances while giving up five runs (two earned) across four frames during that span.
JULY 15 • ROTOWIRE