Yankees' bullpen implodes, drop first game of season in 7-5 loss to Diamondbacks

The Yankees were on the verge of victory, but the bullpen's eighth-inning implosion led to New York's 7-5 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium.

With the Yanks nursing a 4-3 lead in the eighth, reigning NL Player of the Week Eugenio Suarez launched his MLB-leading fifth home run -- a grand slam -- off of Mark Leiter Jr. to give the D-backs a lead they wouldn't relinquish.

Prior to that inning, Yankees pitching allowed just two runs on one hit.

The fated eighth inning was the stuff of nightmares for the Yankees. With Devin Williams out on paternity leave, Luke Weaver was not available for the inning, so manager Aaron Boone went with Tim Hill to start. The southpaw allowed a double and single to start as Arizona cut the Yankees lead to 4-3. After Corbin Caroll ground out, Boone went with Leiter Jr. The right-hander walked Ketel Marte and Pavin Smith before striking out Josh Naylor. He was one pitch away from getting out of the inning before his splitter stayed out over the plate and Suarez launched his grand slam 376 feet over the left field wall.

Before that, the Yankees' bullpen was great. Fernando Cruz struck out four in two perfect innings and newly acquired RHP Adam Ottavino allowed just one walk over his 0.2 innings.