Another blown save for Holmes drops Yankees out of AL East lead and raises questions about closer

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Clay Holmes lost the feel for his sinker, his control and perhaps his job as the New York Yankees closer.

The two-time All-Star allowed a single and two walks before Texas rookie Wyatt Langford hit a game-ending grand slam in a 7-4 loss Tuesday night that dropped the Yankees out of first place in the AL East for the first time in three weeks.

Holmes has blown a major league-high 11 saves in 40 chances, and manager Aaron Boone did not voice his usual support after the game when asked whether he will consider changing closers.

“I'm not going to answer that right now when we’re raw and emotional,” Boone said. “We'll talk through it and do what we think is the best thing.”

After Carson Kelly's one-out single, Holmes missed on a full-count slider to walk Josh Smith and Marcus Semien walked on five pitches. Langford fouled off a full-count slider to stay alive before hitting a hanging 85.8 mph slider 407 down the left-field line. Holmes' blown saves are the most for the Yankees since Dave Righetti's 13 in 1987.

“There’s been times I feel like I’ve thrown well, I’ve gotten beat,” Holmes said. “Honestly, tonight was one of those I didn’t throw very well, and wasn’t very good at all and didn’t deserve to come out on top there the way I was throwing.”

Holmes had last blown a save Aug. 18 against Detroit in the Major League Baseball Little League Classic. Boone said that night “he's throwing the ball really well” and added “but right now, Clay's the guy.”

While the manager said again Tuesday that the “stuff's there” and Holmes has been throwing the ball well, Holmes has been having trouble putting batters away with two strikes.

This loss was all on the reliever, and it comes at a time when the Yankees (80-59) are in the tight race with Baltimore for the division lead and the American League's best record.

“Tonight they got him. A lot of the times where we’ve lost out there, it’s been, you know, soft contact,” Boone said. "Obviously that wasn’t the case tonight, walked two guys and, obviously, Langford put a real charge into one.

“We got to make sure he’s good. ... I think he handles all this very well, and he’s tough-minded for it. But obviously, you know, some tough ones here of late.”

As for Holmes, he said he just has to evaluate what went wrong and what he can do better.

“It’s definitely not my first tough one,” he said. “So I think just really you’ve got to flush it, have a short memory and get back to what we do well.”

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Stephen Hawkins, The Associated Press