Yankees' Clay Holmes on Collapse vs. Marlins: 'Mountain Gets Bigger with Every Loss'

The Miami Marlins earned four runs against New York Yankees pitcher Clay Holmes in the bottom of the ninth Sunday night on their way to a 8-7 comeback win.

At 60-58, the Yankees now sit five games back of the last Wild Card spot in the AL.

"The mountain gets bigger with every loss," Holmes said, per ESPN. "We have to put together some wins and string them together and get some momentum going."

Prior to the collapse, the Yankees had led 7-3.

"Losses like these, they hurt," Holmes said.

With a 7-5 record since the August 1 trade deadline, the New York club could miss the playoffs for the first time since Aaron Judge's first full MLB season in 2017.

The Marlins entered the weekend series in a slump, having lost seven of their last ten games before heading to New York.

After losing Friday, the Marlins claimed the series win—and leapfrogged the Chicago Cubs to get back into the last playoff spot in the NL— by holding the Yankees to a single run Saturday and forcing the pitching collapse Sunday.

"Every game matters right now, every loss matters," Holmes said. "Especially one like this. This definitely was a series that we needed to have."

Holmes had forced Marlins hitter Yuli Gurriel through two strikes to begin the bottom of the ninth before Gurriel connected on a double.

The Yankees closer could not settle the game down, loading the bases on an infield single and a walk. A ground ball bouncing past the mound surprised Holmes, and two runners made it home on the ensuing error. Another two scored on a triple from Luis Arráez.

The performance was an outlier for Holmes, who had appeared in 47 games prior to Sunday as the most reliable closer on the Yankees. He earned saves in three of his last five appearances, all wins, and headed into Sunday with 16 out of 19 possible saves, good for best on the team and 11th in the AL.

It is likely Holmes will bounce back. The same cannot definitively be said for the Yankees' hopes of reaching the playoffs from the bottom of the AL East.