MIAMI — The Yankees arrived here Thursday night having won four of their past five games and with some extra help from the trade deadline.
There was plenty of juice around the team, but by the end of the weekend, they had essentially tripped and spilled the juice all over themselves.
A miserable series came to a fitting end Sunday when Luis Gil sputtered in his season debut, putting the Yankees in a hole they could not climb out of in a 7-3 loss as the Marlins swept them out of loanDepot Park.
The damaging weekend began with a brutal 13-12 loss Friday night, when their trade deadline reinforcements failed them.
Luis Gil reacts during the Yankees’ loss to the Marlins on Aug. 3.AP
Luis Gil throws a pitch during the Yankees’ Aug. 3 loss.Imagn Images
Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s baserunning blunder loomed over Saturday’s 2-0 loss.
And then the offense was quiet again early on Sunday as the excitement over Gil’s return quickly fizzled.
The end result was the Yankees (60-52) falling farther into third place in the AL East, 1 ¹/₂ games behind the Red Sox and 4 ¹/₂ behind the Blue Jays.
For the second straight day, the Yankees were shut down by a Marlins starter, this time Edward Cabrera.
Meanwhile, Gil failed to make it out of the fourth inning.
The 2024 AL Rookie of the Year walked four and gave up five runs in 3 ¹/₃ innings, struggling with his command while throwing 77 pitches.
Jakob Marsee reacts after hitting a triple during the Marlins’ Aug. 3 win over the Yankees.Getty Images
Jazz Chisholm Jr. rounds the bases after homering during the Yankees’ Aug. 3 loss.IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
There were two men on when lefty Brent Headrick relieved Gil to face the left-handed hitting Kyle Stowers in the fourth inning.
Headrick got ahead 0-2 but then left a fastball near the top of the zone that Stowers crushed for a three-run shot — his first homer against a lefty this season — that put the Marlins up 6-1 as Miami improved to .500 (55-55) for the first time since early April.
Chisholm tried to get the Yankees back in it when he drilled a two-run homer off lefty reliever Josh Simpson in the seventh inning that made it a 6-3 game.
Anthony Volpe strikes out during the Yankees’ Aug. 3 loss.AP
But the Marlins immediately got one of those runs back against JT Brubaker in the bottom of the frame to squash any kind of momentum the Yankees might have had.
After the final 14 Yankees were retired in order Saturday, Trent Grisham put an end to that streak of futility immediately Sunday by leading off the game with a home run.
The good feelings were short-lived, though, as Gil walked the Nos. 7 and 8 hitters with one out in the second, which immediately came back to hurt.
No. 9 hitter Troy Johnston followed with an RBI double to tie it before Xavier Edwards singled and Stowers hit a sacrifice fly for the 3-1 lead.
Gil had his sharpest inning in the third, when he struck out a pair on 97 mph heaters.
But he led off the fourth by walking No. 8 hitter Graham Pauley again, which was one of the two men on base when Headrick got taken deep by Stowers.
