ARLINGTON, Texas — Not even Aaron Judge’s return could act as a human defibrillator for the Yankees.

Because with the game on the line late for the second straight night, Aaron Boone again turned to Devin Williams, and once again the reliever could not come through in the biggest of moments.

A night after he gave up the game-tying home run in the ninth inning, Williams entered a scoreless game in the eighth inning and gave up a pair of runs that sunk the Yankees in their fifth straight loss, 2-0 to the Rangers on Tuesday night at Globe Life Field.

“I mean, I don’t really know what to say at this point,” said Williams, who has given up a run in six of his past eight outings.

In falling to 25-34 since May 28, the Yankees (60-54) dropped into sole possession of the third and final AL wild-card spot, with the Rangers (60-55) suddenly just a half-game behind them.

If the Yankees get swept by losing Wednesday’s series finale, they would fly home out of playoff position altogether.

They are also 6 ¹/₂ games back of the Blue Jays and 3 ¹/₂ back of the Red Sox in the AL East.

“Not good,” Boone said. “Put it on record: If we don’t win, it doesn’t matter half-game back, half-game up. We play like this and aren’t stringing wins together, it’s not going to matter. I remain confident in this group, but we continue to say that. Got to start making it happen.”

Yankees relief pitcher Devin Williams reacts during the eighth inning in the Yankees’ 2-0 road loss to the Rangers on Aug. 5, 2025. Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

After Nathan Eovaldi finished suffocating the Yankees across eight innings of one-hit ball, Boone called on Williams to handle the bottom of the eighth.

Will Warren had gone five innings before Camilo Doval and Luke Weaver threw an inning each, and Boone said he liked Williams against the middle of the Rangers order with three of four batters being right-handed.

Williams quickly got the first out before Adolis García smoked a fly ball to left field.

Jasson Domínguez ran back on it and then made a leaping attempt just before the warning track, but the ball tipped off his glove and went for a double.

Aaron Judge grimaces after striking out during the fourth inning of the Yankees’ 2-0 loss to the Rangers on Aug. 5, 2025. AP

“Felt like he didn’t get a great jump on it,” Boone said. “Tough play over his head though.”

Joc Pederson, who hit the game-tying homer off Williams on Monday night and entered Tuesday batting .132, came up next and drew a four-pitch walk before Williams walked Wyatt Langford on five pitches to load the bases.

The Yankees had gotten David Bednar and Mark Leiter Jr. up in the bullpen midway through the Langford plate appearance as they raced to get ready, but Boone stuck with Williams to face the lefty-swinging Rowdy Tellez.

Nathan Eovaldi held the Yankees scoreless in eight innings to pick up the win for the Rangers. Getty Images

He said he was going to go to Bednar in a four-out situation, while Leiter was on his first day back from a month on the injured list.

Lefty Tim Hill was not warming because if he had entered, Boone said, the Rangers would have just used their right-handed bats sitting on the bench.

And he thought that Williams could still generate some swing-and-miss on a night when he had one whiff through 15 pitches entering the Tellez at-bat.

Rowdy Tellez hits the game-winning two-run single during the eighth inning of the Yankees’ loss to the Rangers. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Tellez did swing through two pitches while falling behind 1-2, but then fouled off four pitches as he worked the count full before hitting the 10th pitch into center field for a two-run single.

“Just continue to work and keep trying to execute and help the team any way I can,” Williams said.

Boone indicated before the game that, with Williams scuffling, other relievers might close out games moving forward.

Will Warren pitched five scoreless innings, but needed 98 pitches to do it in the Yankees’ loss to the Rangers. Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

Then he went to Williams in the eighth inning and compounded the issue.

The reliever has allowed 26 earned runs in 43 innings this season — the same amount he gave up across 141 innings over the past three years combined.

“You’re going to hit some rough parts like that,” said Judge, who went 0-for-3 with a pair of strikeouts in his first game back from the IL. “But we just got to be there to support him. He’s picked us up quite a bit throughout the year and we got to pick him up sometimes. It’s just part of it.”