Yandy Díaz stepped up in a big spot with the tying run on second and two outs in the eighth. Clay Holmes started him off with a sinker for strike one, then followed with a slider for strike two. Díaz took note of the mix—one pitch runs in, the other runs away. Holmes kept working the edges with breaking balls, including a sweeping slider that Díaz chased but nearly connected with for a hit. He joked around afterward, giving double thumbs up and finger guns, showing how much he was locked into the moment.
The battle continued as Díaz fouled off a sinker in the zone, then did it again. Holmes tried to get him to chase with back-to-back sinkers way outside, but Díaz laid off both to run the count full. On the payoff pitch, Holmes went back to the sinker, painting low in the zone. The umpire rang him up, but Díaz disagreed, clearly thinking it missed. He walked off talking, not heated, just voicing his case. It was a tense, entertaining matchup with both pitcher and hitter locked in. Holmes won this round, even if Díaz wasn’t buying the call.