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CHICAGO — Clay Holmes brought his best stuff to a new inning.
Pitching for the first time since losing sole possession of the closer’s job Tuesday, Holmes got the eighth inning of Sunday’s 2-1 loss to the Cubs at Wrigley Field and breezed through it with a pair of strikeouts.
Facing the top of the Cubs order, Holmes needed just 12 pitches to retire the side, looking much sharper than he did Tuesday when he lost his delivery and command on the way to his 11th blown save of the season.
“Clay was good,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Good feel of his sinker and slider, used them both. Both pitches were sharp. He was sharp. For the most part, got ahead. … I thought he looked really good.”
Holmes had warmed up Saturday in the bottom of the eighth inning in a game the Yankees led 2-0 but did not enter as Nestor Cortes finished off the final 4 ¹/₃ innings.
Boone has left the door open for Holmes to get more save opportunities while going closer-by-matchup but gave him a solid landing spot Sunday.
“Just wanting to get him in spots where we think he can excel,” Boone said. “That kind of goes for a number of our high-leverage guys when we have them all available.”
Aaron Judge smoked a pair of balls Sunday, only one of which got through for a hit as he went 1-for-3 with a walk.
Since hitting his 50th and 51st home runs Aug. 25, Judge has cooled off a bit amid a still-monster season.
That includes going a season-high 12 games without a long ball while hitting 8-for-43 (.186) with 10 walks and a .595 OPS during that stretch.
“Not much different,” Boone said. “Probably missed a couple pitches that when he’s really rolling, he sticks in the seats. But that’s just a matter of an at-bat, back to rolling, and he’ll hit them in bunches. Not far off at all.”
Jon Berti is expected to be activated off the injured list this week, likely on Monday as the Yankees optioned outfielder Duke Ellis to Triple-A on Sunday night to make room on the active roster. The utilityman has been on the injured list since late May with a calf strain.
For the third straight day, Anthony Rizzo received a standing ovation before his first at-bat Sunday and again took a few seconds to salute the crowd of 39,364 with his helmet.
The weekend doubled as a lovefest for Rizzo in his first trip back to Wrigley Field since the Cubs traded him to the Yankees in 2021.
The veteran first baseman went 1-for-3 with a walk Sunday and 2-for-10 with two walks in the series.
Richard Fitts, one of the pitching prospects the Yankees sent to the Red Sox in the Alex Verdugo trade, made his MLB debut Sunday. The right-hander threw 5 innings and gave up two unearned runs against the White Sox.
