The Yankees are on a three-game skid, and 6-9 since the All-Star break, after blowing a one-run lead late in a 4-3 loss to the Cardinals at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.
Seven things to know from Friday's game
1. The Yankees needed a starting pitcher to step up after Jameson Taillon and Gerrit Cole dropped consecutive blunders. Despite battling command issues, highlighted by four walks and only 48 strikes on 83 pitches, Nestor Cortes delivered.
Cortes stifled the Cardinals' bats, turning in a one-hit start over 5 1/3 innings and striking out four. Yadier Molina's two-out RBI single in the second inning was the Cardinals' only knock.
Although Cortes could not get through the sixth inning -- Aaron Boone pulled the southpaw after striking out Tommy Edman but subsequently walking Paul Goldschmidt on four pitches -- his bulldog effort showed why he has a spot in the Yankees' postseason rotation.
2. Boone's move from Cortes to the bullpen yielded a run when Albert Abreu uncorked a wild pitch, allowed a Nolan Arenado single and eventual Tyler O'Neill RBI single between striking out Nolan Gorman, but the Yankees ultimately emerged unscathed. With two outs, after O'Neill's run-scoring knock, Scott Effross entered and struck out Paul DeJong on a foul tip into Jose Trevino's glove and the Yankees leading 3-2.
Maybe Cortes (9-3, 2.57 ERA) could have worked himself out of trouble once more, but he appeared to be running on fumes and Boone made the right call to end his starter's night.
3. Josh Donaldson was 0-fer in Wednesday's 7-3 series-finale loss to the Mariners, but the Yankees third baseman has otherwise done his job this week -- and he continued with Friday's pivotal two RBI.
Donaldson, who was a highlight of Tuesday's 8-6 defeat with three RBI, put the Yankees on the board in the first inning by splitting the gap for an RBI double that scored DJ LeMahieu from third.
After Molina's aforementioned game-tying knock, Donaldson stepped up again and put the Yankees in front of a 2-1 edge on an RBI single that brought Aaron Judge home from third.
4. Although Gleyber Torres was up and down, he delivered an RBI in the fifth inning with his hustle to first. Torres legged out an infield single, while Judge scored, after a sharp comebacker to Andre Pallante deflected off the pitcher and landed behind the mound.
5. Clay Holmes, however, was unable to pitch with a 3-2 lead. Boone turned to the closer to start the eighth inning -- presumably for a six-out save -- and, after Goldschmidt's leadoff groundout, Holmes soon unraveled.
Arenado singled, but Holmes bounced back, striking out Gorman. A two-out walk to O'Neill, though, set the scene for a two-run go-ahead double by DeJong.
Molina struck out swinging to end the frame, but not before Holmes (2.12 ERA) coughed up a blown save in back-to-back appearances. He did so previously with his ninth-inning blunder against the Royals this past Sunday, an 8-6 loss.
6. Andrew Benintendi ended a 1-for-23 stretch and got his first legitimate hit as a Yankee -- he previously reached based on an infield single in last Friday's 11-5 win over the Kansas City Royals. After Las Nootbaar robbed Donaldson of an extra-base hit on a diving catch near the right-center warning track, Benintendi roped a two-out double down the right-field line.
Ultimately, Benintendi ended the eighth inning stranded -- Isiah Kiner-Falefa walked, but Trevino's 4-3 groundout left the Yankees clinging to a 3-2 margin. Still, Benintendi's double was a sigh of relief for the left fielder, who has struggled at the plate since last Thursday's trade.
7. Matt Carpenter, in his first game back at Busch Stadium as a member of the opposing team, was right at home with a two-hit night. He nearly went yard, too, reaching the right-field warning track on a seventh-inning flyout that brought the crowd to its feet. Carpenter, with two outs and LeMahieu on first, could not beat out a slow roller to the right side in the ninth inning and the Cardinals capped off the comeback.