The Yankees and Red Sox entered this four-game series at Fenway Park on opposite sides of the spectrum, as they had the best record in the American League at 48-31 while Boston entered dead last at 32-46. Nonetheless, the script was flipped on Thursday night with New York looking the part of a shakier team for at least one night. Led by a tough game from Amed Rosario at third, the Yanks committed a season-high four errors. All of the six Red Sox runs were unearned, but they count on the scoreboard all the same.
Final score in the series opener: 6-3, Boston. The loss dropped New York to 4-2 against its longtime rivals this season with three games over the weekend still remaining.
Advertisement
Wasting no time, leadoff hitter Paul Goldschmidt doubled off Boston starter Connelly Early. It looked like the lefty might work around the early trouble, but with two outs Jasson Domínguez, batting from the right side, singled up the middle to score Goldschmidt and give the Yankees an early 1-0 lead.
That score would hold for the next few innings as both starters sweated their way through a muggy summer night. Then, in the top of the fourth, José Caballero turned on a breaking ball and dropped it into the Green Monster seats in left field to double the Yankees’ lead to 2-0.
The Red Sox stranded four runners through the first three innings, but they made Cam Schlittler work. A catcher’s interference call on Wells, a pickoff error for Schlittler, and a missed popup between the batterymates all led to extra pitches.
Advertisement
In the bottom of the fourth, a ground-rule double off the bat of former Yankees first-round pick Anthony Seigler put runners on second and third with one out. Schlittler responded by striking out Carlos Narváez–another former Yankees prospect–and Marcelo Mayer, both swinging, to end the threat.
Boston again got the bases busy to start the bottom of the fifth when Masataka Yoshida walked and Ceddanne Rafaela singled up the middle. Wilyer Abreu popped one up on in foul territory that Rosario made a leaping attempt for, but it ticked off his glove (though it was not an error). Schlittler again responded, striking out Abreu looking for his eighth strikeout of the night. He then got the groundball he wanted, but it skipped through Rosario’s legs to score a run and put runners on second and third. This time, Rosario was charged with an E5.
A sacrifice fly off the bat of Jarren Duran tied the game at 2-2. Then, yet another erstwhile Yankees prospect, Caleb Durbin, lofted a two-run home run off the top of the Green Monster down the left-field line to give Boston a 4-2 lead at the end of the fifth.
Advertisement
The fifth was Schlittler’s last inning as Paul Blackburn came on in relief. Schlittler’s final line was five innings, four runs, none earned, and nine strikeouts. I suppose it was not a full defensive meltdown, but it sure felt like the ball found all the wrong guys as intentionally as possible.
Boston relieved Early in the seventh with another former Yankee, Greg Weissert. The Yankees put two runners aboard after Jazz Chisholm Jr. walked and Austin Wells singled. Jazz then stole third, and after a lengthy at-bat, Goldschmidt grounded out softly to score him and trim Boston’s lead to 4-3. The Red Sox then turned to Danny Coulombe with two outs in the seventh, clinging to a one-run lead. Coulombe got Ben Rice to ground out to end the inning.
Keeping with the evening trend, Boston handed the ball to yet another former Yankees prospect, Garrett Whitlock. Whitlock worked a clean eighth inning, and the Yankees’ chances were fading faster than tea tossed into Boston Harbor.
The bottom of the eighth saw the wheels begin to come off as the Yankees handed the ball to Yerry De los Santos, who walked the leadoff hitter, gave up a single, and then committed an error on a sacrifice bunt. After recording one out–and nearly scoring another run on a wild pitch, which took a friendly carom and forced the runners to freeze–the Yankees turned to Ryan Yarbrough hoping to escape with a chance.
Advertisement
Yarbrough ran a pitch inside that hit pinch=hitter Nate Eaton. After review, it was determined that one stitch on the ball had clipped the button on his jersey just enough to give him first base and force in a run. Then a botched double play by Anthony Volpe that resulted in only one out made it 6-3 Boston.
Somehow, Boston still had more former Yankees in reserve and turned to another one, Aroldis Chapman, for the save opportunity. The Yankees brought the tying run to the plate with one out. Aaron Boone called on the right-handed Max Schuemann, but Chapman got him to fly out to right.
Down to their final out, the Yankees’ hottest hitter, Goldschmidt, put the ball in play and was rewarded with an infield hit to load the bases. However, the threat was for naught as Chapman fielded Ben Rice’s swinging bunt and threw him out to end the game.
Advertisement
The Yankees dropped a game without allowing an earned run. Ugly. The good thing about baseball, though, is there is always tomorrow. New York will look to even the series Friday night when Will Warren is scheduled to face Payton Tolle at 7:10 p.m. ET in Fenway Park.
