New York Yankees: Longball Powers Brewers Past the Yankees

NEW YORK, NY – JULY 09: Corey Knebel /

With first pitch set for just after 1 pm ET on Sunday, the New York Yankees played host to the NL Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers in their final game before the All-Star break.

On a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon, fans got to see a pitching matchup between Jimmy Nelson and Masahiro Tanaka, the latter of whom came into the game regaining his ace form.

The action began early as the Brewers started the game with a pair of singles from Jonathan Villar and Eric Thames. Milwaukee cleanup hitter, Travis Shaw, then got the scoring going, putting three runs on the board with one swing of the bat.

Tanaka’s struggles with giving up the long ball would continue into the second inning as Stephen Vogt lead the inning off with a home run to make the score 4-0 Brew Crew.

Going into the bottom of the fourth, Nelson had allowed just two hits to the Yankees.

He would retire the first two batters of the inning, but Jacoby Ellsbury kept the inning alive with a single to left. Ellsbury would steal second and come around to score on a single by Chase Headley.

NEW YORK, NY – JULY 09: Clint Frazier /

Clint Frazier then got Yankee Stadium buzzing with a two-run dinger to cut the Brewers’ lead to 4-3 and continuing Frazier’s great start to his MLB career.

Unfortunately for the Yankees though, Milwaukee bounced back in the top of the fifth, scoring another run and ending Masahiro Tanaka‘s day after 4.1 innings.

The New York Yankees’ offense couldn’t get anything going for the rest of the game as Nelson went five innings, allowing just the three earned runs.

He handed the ball over to the Brewers’ bullpen which used Carlos Torres for 0.2 innings, Oliver Drake for another 0.2 innings, and Jared Hughes for 1.1 innings.

With two outs in the eighth inning, the Brewers called on closer Corey Knebel, asking him to pick up his third four-out save of the season.

After blowing the save yesterday, Knebel converted today, getting three of four outs via the strikeout.

Knebel’s work gave him his 14th save of the season, and the Brewers a 5-3 win.

Milwaukee picks up another series win and a 5.5 game lead over the defending World Series champion Chicago Cubs in the NL Central.

Next: New York Well Represented at 2017 MLB Futures Game

The loss drops the New York Yankees to 2-6 in July and 45-41 overall. The Yanks have not won any of their last seven series heading into the All-Star break.

Joe Girardi and his men need to use the All-Star break to regroup, get healthy, and get back on track.

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