NEW YORK _ Gary Sanchez's first-inning passed ball led to two runs and that was enough for the Yankees to lose to the Indians, 2-1, in the first game of a doubleheader Wednesday at Yankee Stadium.
That defeat in a close game stung even more when the Yankees were streamrolled in the nightcap, 9-4.
The losses tightened the AL wild-card race. The Yankees held a 1 {-game lead over the Twins for the first spot going into Minnesota's night game against the White Sox, with six other teams chasing.
The Yankees dropped all three in the series to the AL Central-leading Indians, who have been pitching lights out lately. Cleveland's staff had a streak of 30 scoreless innings snapped Monday in a 6-2 victory before Tuesday's game was rained out, leading to Wednesday's twin bill.
In Game 2, Jordan Montgomery (7-7) allowed four first-inning runs and the Indians poured it on later against the Yankees' bullpen. The Yankees trailed 9-1 until Greg Bird hit a three-run home run in the ninth.
Sanchez, who was benched briefly at the beginning of the month for poor defense, had shown improvement, and also had been hitting home runs in bunches, which will paper over a lot of other faults.
But the Indians scored their first run in the opener when Sanchez let a low _ but not too low _ pitch get past him for a passed ball, his AL-worst 13th. The ball touched dirt only after it got past Sanchez.
Cleveland made it 2-0 when Yandy Diaz followed with an RBI single off Jaime Garcia (1-2), who allowed only those two runs (one earned) in five-plus innings.
"That's kind of where I wanted to throw it," Garcia said. "But my stuff sometimes moves. I don't even know when it moves. That's the pitch I wanted to throw, but all I know is if I was a catcher I wouldn't want to catch me. ... It's a play that obviously a run scored from third. But I also gave up a hit right after, so I take the blame from that and focus on we didn't win the game, and that's on me."
Indians starter Trevor Bauer (14-8) gave up one run in six innings, on Didi Gregorius' two-out double in the third. It was the Yankees' only hit with runners in scoring position in seven tries.
There were no close-game worries in the nightcap as the Indians sent 10 men to the plate in the first inning and scored four times against Montgomery, who was called up to make the start.
Montgomery pitched three scoreless innings after that, but Chasen Shreve allowed a solo homer to Edwin Encarnacion in the fifth. Caleb Smith gave up a two-run shot to Yan Gomes in the seventh and a solo blast to Francisco Lindor in the eighth.
