MIAMI — Jake Bird and David Bednar ran into each other in the Denver airport around midnight Thursday and boarded a plane bound for Miami to join the Yankees, who had acquired them a few hours earlier at the trade deadline.
At the time, those may have felt like two tickets to paradise. Their trip covered about 1,700 air miles, but more than that, it delivered them from last place to the world’s most famous baseball team, a pennant race and a chance to win a championship in a few months.
It didn’t take long, however, for their joint journey to take a hellish turn. In their Yankees debuts, the relievers were among the many culprits in a mind-numbing 13-12 loss to the Marlins at loanDepot park.
Bird was the first of the bullpen arrivals to make it to the mound.
He entered to begin the bottom of the seventh with the Yankees holding a seemingly comfortable 9-4 lead and gave up a single off the right field wall to Agustín Ramírez.
After Bird struck out Heriberto Hernandez, Otto Lopez lined a single to left and took second as the throw went in toward third.
With Bednar warming, Bird walked Liam Hicks to load the bases.
That brought a visit from pitching coach Matt Blake.
Manager Aaron Boone was asked if he considered bringing in Bednar at that point to face Kyle Stowers, given Bednar’s success this season against lefty hitters.
13-12, 10-innning loss to the Marlins on Aug. 1, 2025. @Marlins / X
“A little bit, but then I’m really short getting to the end [of the game],” said Boone, who revealed Tim Hill, Luke Weaver and closer Devin Williams were unavailable due to recent usage. “And we like Bird against lefties, too.”
Stowers sliced a deep fly to left field that kept carrying, over the head of Jasson Domínguez and then over the wall.
“Just not executing the pitches to my ability,” Bird said. “ I need to be better there, and I will be better.”
The 29-year-old Bird, who was 4-1 for a Rockies team that was 28-80, couldn’t quite explain why things went wrong.
in the seventh inning of the Yankees’ loss to the Marlins. @Marlins / X
“I just think it’s one of those days where you just need to have a little extra focus, a little extra intent. You don’t want those days to happen, but they do on occasion, and I just need to look back at it, kinda learn from it and be better.”
The Yankees still held a 9-8 lead when Bednar came on.
This was many innings too early for a save situation, but the former Pirate has been impeccable holding leads this season, going 17-for-17 in save chances.
He induced a groundout for the second out of the seventh but then gave up the tying homer to Javier Samoja.
That was followed by a double by Jakob Marsee, an infield single by Xavier Edwards and a go-ahead single by Ramírez.
“Definitely not an ideal start by any means,” said Bednar, who was encouraged by the scoreless eighth inning he pitched that gave the Yankees a chance to take another short-lived lead. “But the guys picked me up and I was able to get a zero in that second inning [of work]. That’s just part of being a reliever. Sometimes stuff like that happens. It’s all about how you respond and bounce back.”
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