NEW YORK — Run prevention has been a cornerstone of the Yankees’ recent hot streak, and it appeared that more of the same might be in store early on Friday. Clint Frazier raced deep into the left-center-field gap to complete a dazzling grab in the top of the third inning, his chest skidding against grass and soil as the ball remained lodged in his glove.
Frazier rose to his feet and grinned while flexing his arm, savoring another addition to his personal highlight reel. Yet the Bombers’ defensive fortunes turned in the eighth inning, when a trio of fielding miscues opened the floodgates for six eighth-inning runs, sending the club back to the .500 mark (16-16) with Friday’s 11-4 loss to the Nationals at Yankee Stadium.
“It was not good timing for those errors to happen,” said DJ LeMahieu, who homered twice but also committed one of the errors. “I think we’ve been playing pretty good defense lately. We didn’t help our pitchers out at all.”
In that ugly frame, right fielder Aaron Judge was charged with his first error since Sept. 30, 2018, seeing Yadiel Hernandez’s single clank off his glove. LeMahieu threw wildly on a sacrifice attempt, setting up Trea Turner’s tiebreaking single off Jonathan Loaisiga. LeMahieu said that he rushed his throw because of the speed of the runner, Hansel Robles.
Robbed earlier in the evening by Frazier’s grab, Josh Harrison then broke the game open with a three-run homer. Gleyber Torres also committed an error that as the Yanks endured their most lopsided inning of the season so far.
“It was just not a good inning for us,” manager Aaron Boone said. “They put some really good swings on balls; they hit the ball pretty hard that inning. They got it done and we didn’t that inning.”
DJ turn tables
Washington’s rally spoiled the sixth multihomer performance of LeMahieu’s career, as the infielder continued to see the ball well against left-hander Patrick Corbin, a frequent foe from LeMahieu’s days in the National League.
LeMahieu put the Yankees on the board with a leadoff homer, then reached the right-field seats again in the sixth with a game-tying blow. LeMahieu is now 21-for-54 (.389) with six homers lifetime against Corbin, the most home runs LeMahieu has hit against any big league pitcher.
“I’ve faced him all the way from Double-A in 2010 or ’11, so I’ve just faced him so many times,” LeMahieu said. “I think that’s probably the hitter’s advantage.”
Corbin, whom the Yankees briefly courted as a free agent in the winter of 2018-19, held New York to three runs over six innings.
“It’s tough here with the short porch there in right,” Corbin said. “But that what [LeMahieu] is best at; I got to see him a lot when he was with the Rockies. He goes the other way. He got them up in the air a little bit, and they happened to get out.”
On the bump
Gary Sánchez also launched a homer, his first since April 3, in support of starter Jameson Taillon. Touched for second-inning homers by Josh Bell and Yan Gomes, Taillon retired the next 15 batters, executing an in-game adjustment with Sánchez and pitching coach Matt Blake to throw more curveballs and changeups.
“When I was in advantage counts, they were looking at the top of the zone for the fastball, knowing my tendencies,” said Taillon, who tossed 6 1/3 innings of three-run, three-hit ball. “Tonight was probably a good lesson for me in what to do when a team is taking that pitch away from me.”
Wandy Peralta recorded two strikeouts to keep the game tied in the seventh, but Loaisiga was saddled with the loss, charged with five runs (four earned) while recording only one out in the eighth. Luis Cessa mopped up the final five outs, allowing a Juan Soto homer.
Having coughed up a late lead on Thursday against the Astros, the Yankees’ bullpen has allowed 13 runs in the last two days after allowing 13 runs in their previous 16 games.
“I’m always surprised, because I know what they’re capable of,” Boone said. “I know what we expect of them. I look forward to them putting this one behind them.”
