Yankees go ahead in 10th but lose to Brewers in 11th

MILWAUKEE — That Friday night’s game was close came as no surprise.

Entering the day, 17 of the Yankees' first 26 games had been decided by two or fewer runs. Ten of those were one-run affairs,  tied for the most in the majors.

More often than not, the Yankees have come up with the big hit or big pitch — or both — in the late innings, the reason they bolted out of the gate the way they did.

On Friday night, though, it was the Brewers who came up just a bit bigger.

Although Juan Soto and Alex Verdugo hit solo home runs,  Trent Grisham snapped an 0-for-12 start to his season with a three-run homer and pinch hitter Giancarlo Stanton delivered a  go-ahead RBI double in the 10th inning, the Yankees fell, 7-6, in 11 innings on Joey Ortiz’s walk-off RBI single against Michael Tonkin in front of 32,314 at American Family Field.

Wait. Michael Tonkin?

Indeed, the righthander was Aaron Boone’s choice to close — rather than send Clay Holmes out for a second inning — after Stanton, 3-for-42 in his career as a pinch hitter coming into the day, gave the Yankees (17-10) a 6-5 lead in the 10th with his double.

Holmes buzzsawed the Brewers (17-8) in a 1-2-3, 10-pitch ninth, but Boone was adamant about not having his closer, with a team-high 13 appearances through the first 27 games, pitch a second inning.

“He’s on about an 80-game pace in April,” Boone said. “He’s been in essentially half our games and, especially with some of the attrition we’ve had down there in our bullpen, I have to make sure we keep him in a great spot.”

Boone could have gone with lefthander Victor Gonzalez, who is 2-for-2 in saves this season, but said the “righty lane” of Brewers hitters leading off the 10th made Tonkin the call. (Boone wanted to stay away from righthander Ian Hamilton, who has appeared in 10 games, though he has thrown only two innings this week, one on Monday and one on Wednesday.)

Tonkin, whose whirlwind of a month includes him being with three organizations in that time, was claimed off waivers from the Mets on Thursday and put on the roster in time for Friday’s game.

He looked shaky from the start.

Tonkin’s first pitch of the 10th went for a passed ball charged to Jose Trevino, putting a runner on third. Then he fell in a 2-and-0 hole when he committed a pitch clock violation. Willy Adames’ RBI single soon tied it at 6-6.

“I think baseball in general is tough. Still gotta go out and do your job,” Tonkin said of his circumstances.

Tonkin did well to keep it there but could not hold the Brewers down in the 11th. After Brice Turang’s long flyout to right moved ghost runner Owen Miller to third, Ortiz, whose two-run homer in the second had tied it at 2-2, won it with his single.

Pinch runner Jahmai Jones started the top of the 11th on second, running for Anthony Rizzo, and went to third on Gleyber Torres’ long flyout to right.  Verdugo, who had homered in the second, then bounced one back to pitcher Jared Koenig, who immediately came home and easily got Jones, who was running on contact.

Soto, who came into the night hitting .316 with an American League-best .430 on-base percentage, went 2-for-4 with a walk, making it 17 of 27 games in which he has reached base multiple times (he’s reached base at least once in 24 of his 27 games).

Grisham’s three-run homer in the fourth got, in his words, “the monkey off my back” in terms of his first hit of the season and gave the Yankees a 5-4 lead. But there wasn’t enough production overall from the offense, which totaled only six hits.

Luis Gil, who allowed three or fewer runs in each of his first four starts, as well as three  or fewer hits in those outings, was not at that level Friday night.

The righthander, victimized by a pair of two-run homers by Ortiz and Blake Perkins, allowed five runs and six hits in five innings in which he walked two and struck out six.

“We had some chances to really tack on there and just couldn’t put it away and make it an awesome offensive night,” Boone said. “Pretty good offensive night overall, just not quite enough to get that next level of back-breaker.”