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WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — The 20 teams involved in the Little League World Series spent the afternoon and night brushing shoulders with big leaguers.
The Yankees and Tigers even rewarded them with extra innings, too.
But for the Yankees, that came at a cost as Clay Holmes blew a one-run lead in the bottom of the ninth before the Tigers walked off a 3-2 win against Mark Leiter Jr. in the 10th inning of the Little League Classic on Sunday night at Bowman Field.
Holmes’ MLB-high 10th blown save of the season wasted six shutout innings from Marcus Stroman and spoiled what would have been a feel-good 1-0 win on a day spent among awestruck Little Leaguers who were part of the 2,532 in attendance in the intimate setting.
“Some pretty cool stuff, some memories I won’t forget, just wish the game turned out a little different,” Aaron Judge said.
The Yankees (73-52) had regained a 2-1 lead in the top of the 10th on a leadoff single from DJ LeMahieu.
But the Tigers (61-64) came back to tie it in the bottom of the inning against Leiter with a leadoff single from Zach McKinstry, who then stole second.
That set him up to score on Parker Meadows’ game-winning single to left field, with Jasson Dominguez double-clutching on the throw home costing him any chance of nabbing McKinstry.
“Just not real sharp,” manager Aaron Boone said of Leiter.
The Yankees entered the bottom of the ninth clinging to a 1-0 lead after Stroman had out-dueled Tarik Skubal across six innings.
But with one out, Colt Keith jumped on a sinker at the top of the zone and sliced a double to left field to start the rally.
Then with two outs, rookie third baseman Jace Jung shot a single through the left side to tie the game.
“Just two sinkers that probably could have been a little more off the plate or down,” said Holmes, whose lack of shutdown stuff in the ninth inning has been among the concerns in the Yankees bullpen of late.
Asked if he was committed to Holmes — who at times has been the victim of soft contact, but not on Sunday — as his closer for the rest of the year, Boone said “yes” before adding that the Yankees have “a lot of really good options,” which may be overly optimistic.
Stroman tossed six shutout innings in his best start in two months, but the Yankees could not take advantage as they lost the rubber game of the series.
The right-hander allowed just four hits and two walks while striking out five, getting some help from his defense — a relay home from Judge to Anthony Volpe to Jose Trevino in the fifth inning — to keep the shutout intact.
But the Tigers spent much of the weekend quieting the Yankee offense, including on Sunday when the only run they scored before extras came when Gleyber Torres raced home on a wild pitch in the sixth inning.
Skubal was a bad combination for the Yankees — one of the best pitchers in the league and a lefty, which they have struggled against most of the season.
And while he held them in check, the Yankees put together some long at-bats early to help hike up his pitch count and force him out of the game after six innings and 100 pitches.
“He’s the best pitcher in the game right now,” Judge said while wearing a Little League hat that he traded with a kid for a Yankees cap. “It’s not fun facing a guy like that, but it’s fun competing against the best.”
For most of the night, it looked like the Yankees were going to beat Skubal by playing a clean game and getting even better pitching. Then the bullpen failed them late, putting a buzzkill on the day at large.
“What we did earlier, being able to mingle with some Little Leaguers and see what baseball means to them and bring some inspiration and hope, it’s still a part of this game that I think was very meaningful for all of us,” Holmes said. “At the same time, we came here to win and I wasn’t able to finish that one off for us.”
