Yankees undone by sloppy sixth inning in second straight loss to Guardians

CLEVELAND — Will Warren was working on a one-hit shutout when he took the mound for the sixth inning.

Nine batters later — only two of which faced Warren — the Guardians had done Guardians things to scratch across just enough runs to win the game.

It happened quickly, and in part by their own doing with some hiccups defensively as a two-run Yankees lead turned into a 3-2 loss on Tuesday night at Progressive Field.

“When you feel like if you just made the plays and don’t give them any more outs than they earn, it’s frustrating,” Anthony Volpe said. “But it was early in the game, we still had a lot of time and a lot more opportunities to come through.”

The Yankees (14-10) did not, though, meaning they will try to stave off the sweep on Wednesday afternoon in their first series loss to the Guardians (14-9) since 2021.

While their defense has been much improved this season, the Yankees had some shortcomings in the field during the crucial sixth inning that ended up being the difference.

Warren, coming off a rough outing in which he lasted only 1 ²/₃ innings against the Rays on Thursday, was much sharper on Tuesday.

But he allowed back-to-back singles to lead off the sixth — the latter a few feet away from being a double play ball — before Mark Leiter Jr. relieved him.

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Leiter immediately struck out Cleveland’s biggest threat, José Ramírez, on three pitches, but then the Guardians made things happen with Kyle Manzardo at the plate.

Steven Kwan and Nolan Jones both took off on a pitch and J.C. Escarra began to pop out of his stance behind the plate to throw one of them out.

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But Leiter’s pitch went down and in and Escarra was unable to stop it as it went to the backstop, allowing both runners to take an extra base to make it 2-1.

“Maybe a little quick out of the crouch,” manager Aaron Boone said.

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Manzardo then hit a sinking liner to right that Aaron Judge tried to make a diving play on, but it fell just short of him for a double that tied the game.

“I know that’s the game right there,” said Judge, who went 4-for-4 with a double and also made a diving catch an inning earlier. “Off the bat, you’re trying to get in there and make a play. But I got about two steps away and saw, all you can do is try to knock it down at that point.”

One out and one walk later, the Guardians had runners on the corners for Angel Martínez, who hit a looping liner just past second base that ate Volpe up on a tough in-between hop, allowing Manzardo to score for the 3-2 lead.

“I feel like I got to make that play,” Volpe said. “It’s just one of those humpback line drives right at you that it’s hard to gauge how hard it’s hit. Just trying to keep it in front and make a play, but obviously didn’t.”

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Boone described it as a “spinner” to Volpe that was “almost an impossible play.”

“They just put the ball in play and made something happen,” Judge said. “We just weren’t able to come up with the big play to stop that run.”

The Yankees jumped on top 1-0 one pitch into the game, when Ben Rice made a triumphant return from a bruised elbow with a leadoff homer against Tanner Bibee.

Judge, who is batting .411, doubled and scored on Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s sacrifice fly in the sixth, but that was all the offense the Yankees could muster.

That gave Warren little margin for error, but he turned in an encouraging outing in which he was more aggressive early in counts to keep his pitch count in check.

Doing it against a Guardians lineup that featured nine left-handed hitters (four switch-hitters) made it even more gratifying for the right-hander who called lefties his former “kryptonite.”

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“I know last start he wasn’t too happy with, but that’s what makes him such a gamer is he comes out here against a tough team that we’ve seen in the postseason and had some big-time battles [with],” Judge said. “Seeing him come out there and do that, it’s pretty impressive. That’s why we got to close that game out for him.”