Unlike Saturday, the Yankees came all the way back from a five-run deficit Sunday, rallying to tie the Cardinals during a roller-coaster contest in the Bronx.
But just like Saturday, the Yankees still left with a loss.
Lars Nootbaar’s tie-breaking three-run double over the outstretched glove of Juan Soto proved to be the decisive blow in a 14-7 loss by the Yankees that turned into a blowout late.
Nootbaars’ bases-clearing line drive to the right-field wall came on a 2-2 changeup from Tommy Kahnle with two outs in the seventh inning, putting the Cardinals up, 10-7. Nootbaar added a two-run home run against Ron Marinaccio in the ninth inning to cap a 3-for-5, five-RBI day.
The Cardinals pounded out 21 hits and scored 11 of their runs with two outs, deflating a Yankee Stadium crowd of 42,768 that watched the home team erase a 7-2 deficit.
The Yankees found themselves in that early hole after the Cardinals tagged starter Nestor Cortes for five runs on nine hits over four innings.
Much of the damage against Cortes came during a four-run top of the fourth that featured multiple bad breaks for the left-hander.
Anthony Volpe failed to field a would-be double-play ball that scooted under his glove, putting runners on first and second base to begin the inning. Jordan Walker was credited with a hit.
Cortes struck out the next two hitters, but he was burned by a two-out bloop double by Masyn Winn that landed near the left-field line, then bounced high over Alex Verdugo’s head, allowing both runners to score to give the Cardinals a 3-2 lead.
The Cardinals extended that lead to 5-2 when the next batter, Luken Baker, crushed a two-run home run.
Cortes had been excellent of late, allowing only one run over his three previous starts, which spanned 20.2 innings.
St. Louis continued its offensive onslaught against reliever Scott Effross, who was making his first MLB appearance since 2022 after elbow and back surgeries. Walker hit a two-run home run against the right-hander, whom the Yankees called up Sunday, to put the Cardinals up, 7-2, in the fifth.
The Yankees answered with three runs in the bottom of the fifth. In his first game back from an 11-week injured-list stint for a fractured forearm, Anthony Rizzo started the scoring with an RBI double. Verdugo and Gleyber Torres followed with RBI singles to cut the Yankees’ deficit to 7-5.
They tied the game, 7-7, in the sixth inning behind an RBI single by Volpe and a bases-loaded sacrifice fly by Torres. Torres’ drive was caught on the warning track, as was a 348-foot fly out off the bat of Soto to end the inning.
The Yankees also trailed by five runs during Saturday’s eventual 6-5 loss. Giancarlo Stanton nearly tied that game with an eighth-inning drive that hit near the top of the center-field wall. Had the 417-foot shot cleared the wall, Stanton would have had a game-tying grand slam, but the Yankees settled for a three-run double and did not score again.
In the end, the Yankees (79-58) dropped two out of three at home to a Cardinals (69-68) team that has hovered around .500 all season.
The Yankees have now lost two series in a row and three of their last five. They began Sunday with a 1.5-game lead over Baltimore for first place in the American League East.
The Bombers will look to get back on track Monday night in Arlington, Texas, where they are set to begin a three-game series against the Rangers and kick off a six-game road trip.