Giancarlo Stanton looked as if he thought he’d tied the game with a pinch-hit grand slam in the bottom of the eighth on Saturday.
But his shot to dead center hit near the top of the fence and went for a three-run double, which still left the Yankees a run down, which is how it ended in a 6-5 loss to the Cardinals at Yankee Stadium.
Juan Soto made things interesting in the bottom of the ninth with a two-out double and Aaron Judge was walked intentionally to bring up the sizzling Austin Wells.
Wells ripped a foul ball down the right-field line before striking out on a 3-2 slider to end it.
The Yankees were placed in a five-run hole earlier in the game because of another poor outing by Will Warren, who likely won’t make another start for the team this season, with Clarke Schmidt and Luis Gil close to returning from injuries.
And when the games get really important, Trent Grisham won’t be in center, which is where he was Saturday as Judge got a partial rest as DH.
With September arriving on Sunday, the next test begins in The Bronx as the Yankees try to hold off the Orioles to win the AL East.
Despite all that, the Yankees have often been able to overcome similar issues, but Judge and Soto weren’t able to bail them out.
Soto is now 3-for-22 in his last five games. Judge has gone homer-less in five straight games for the first time in three weeks. His longest drought this season is eight games.
Being shut down for seven innings by St. Louis right-hander Kyle Gibson was somewhat unexpected, as Gibson had allowed 15 earned runs over 14 ¹/₃ innings in his previous three starts.
But left-hander Matthew Liberatore gave up four straight two-out hits in the eighth.
The Yankees loaded the bases against Liberatore, as Judge, Wells and Jazz Chisholm Jr. all singled before Anthony Volpe’s dribbler went for a fourth straight hit and scored Judge to make it 6-2.
Stanton pinch-hit for Grisham and St. Louis went to righty Andrew Kittredge.
Stanton pummeled a first-pitch slider 417 feet to center to make it 6-5.
Ben Rice came on to run for Stanton, but Alex Verdugo grounded out to end the inning.
In the ninth, Oswaldo Cabrera worked a full count against Ryan Helsley, but was called for a pitch clock violation and struck out to lead off the inning.
Gleyber Torres flied out and then Soto and Judge reached before Wells ended it.
The Yankees got off to a solid start Saturday, as Wells continued his hot streak at the plate with a leadoff double in the bottom of the second and scored on Volpe’s single to left.
Warren pitched around walks in the first two innings, but a leadoff walk to Victor Scott in the third helped get him in trouble.
With runners on the corners and one out, Nolan Arenado’s RBI single to center tied the game.
Brendan Donovan followed with a three-run shot to right to put the Yankees in a 4-1 hole.
The 334-foot shot to right would have been a homer in just one ballpark, according to Baseballsavant.com.
It marked the fourth time in Warren’s five MLB starts he’s allowed at least four runs.
And the four-run third could have been worse for Warren. Verdugo threw out Paul Goldschmidt at the plate to end the inning on Ivan Herrera’s base hit to left.
The Yankees had chances to get back in the game in both the fourth and fifth.
In the fourth, they had two on and one out, but Volpe grounded out and Grisham whiffed on a questionable check swing call.
And they wasted a leadoff double by Verdugo in the fifth.
Mark Leiter Jr. made things worse in the sixth, as the right-hander continues to be ineffective since coming over in a trade from the Cubs.
Back-to-back doubles by Lars Nootbaar and Ivan Herrera led to a run and Herrera then scored on a Leiter wild pitch and throwing error by Wells to make it 6-1.