McKinstry Single, Sánchez Error Bury Yankees in 11th
Detroit walked out of New York with a 6-2 win after a three-run 11th inning that started with a base hit and ended with a catcher's throwing error. The win-probability swing on that single sequence — from 40% to 4% in favor of the Yankees — tells you everything about how quickly this game turned.
Troy Melton was the story through the first six-plus innings. The Detroit starter went 6.1 innings, allowing just 2 hits, 0 earned runs, 1 walk, and striking out 7. That's a performance that deserved a comfortable win, and for most of the night it looked like he'd get one. Kevin McGonigle put Detroit on the board in the third with a 422-foot home run to right center, and Riley Greene added an RBI sacrifice fly in the sixth to score Dillon Dingler, pushing the lead to 2-0. Will Warren matched Melton's strikeout total with 7 of his own over 5.1 innings, but the Yankees couldn't generate offense against Detroit's starter when it mattered.
New York's ninth inning looked like a comeback. Amed Rosario launched a 361-foot home run to left to cut the deficit to one, and then the Yankees tied it on a wild pitch — twice listed in the sequence as Chisholm Jr. scoring on an Anderson wild pitch, knotting the game at 2-2. The bullpen situation appeared to unravel for Detroit in that frame, and the Yankees had all the momentum heading to extras. Keider Montero came on and delivered 2.0 innings of scoreless, hitless relief — 0 hits, 0 earned runs, and 3 strikeouts — to keep Detroit alive long enough for the offense to answer.
The 11th inning is where this game was decided, and it wasn't subtle. With the score tied, Torkelson drew a walk that scored McGonigle, giving Detroit a 3-2 lead. Then McKinstry singled to right, scoring Greene and Torkelson to make it 5-2. That alone was damaging enough — but catcher Sánchez's throwing error allowed Lee to score as well, completing a three-run swing that sent the win probability crashing from 40% to 4% for New York on a single play. McKinstry finished 1-for-5 with 2 RBI, and McGonigle scored twice on the night to go with his first-inning homer. Detroit's 6-2 final looks comfortable, but this one was genuinely in doubt until the 11th. The Yankees' inability to protect a tie game in extras, compounded by the error, is what this loss will be remembered for.