Former Yankees enemy makes laughable error to spoil Corbin Burnes' outing in NY

The New York Yankees were looking to continue their hot streak against the Arizona Diamondbacks in their series opener on Tuesday. But this wouldn't be another tee ball practice like the Bombers had over the weekend against the Milwaukee Brewers. Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes was on the mound.

A rather unacceptable miscommunication among the Diamondbacks kicked Burnes from starting the first game of the season all the way to the fifth, lining him up with the Bombers on April 1. Yeah, we thought it was an April Fool's joke, too.

But it turns out Burnes wasn't as sharp as can be in his season debut. And he didn't necessarily get the best help from his teammates.

After the D-backs went up 2-0 on a Corbin Carroll homer in the third inning, Jasson Dominguez immediately responded with a solo shot (his first homer of the year) in the bottom half. Then came the bottom of the fourth, when Anthony Volpe went yard again to tie it up.

The Yankees were working Burnes' pitch count. Before disaster struck, the right-hander was at 80 pitches in just the fourth inning. That's when first baseman Josh Naylor — a former well-known playoff enemy of the Yankees during the 2022 ALDS — opened the floodgates with an error.

After Austin Wells walked and Dominguez singled, the Yankees had runners on first and second with one out. But Burnes made quick work of Ben Rice, bringing up Oswaldo Cabrera as the last chance to keep the rally going.

Burnes did what he had to do. He got Cabrera to hit a weak grounder to first. But Naylor seemingly lost motor functions for a moment, lobbing the ball way over Burnes' head as he ran to cover first base for the final out.

That's two runs thanks to the torpedo bats, and another two because of defensive malpractice. Who will the whiners choose to blame on this lovely Tuesday evening?

This game is far from over, but Will Warren just got out of the fifth inning to complete an impressive season debut, while the Diamondbacks have to cover at least four more innings with their bullpen after they had their best arm on the mound to start the night.