Shortly after the Yankees suffered a 1-0 loss to the Red Sox on Friday night, a few pinstripers acknowledged Boston’s dominance over the Bombers this season.
“It’s been tough,” Ben Rice said. “They’ve had our number so far.”
“I honestly don’t have an answer for that,” Jasson Domínguez added when asked why the Sox have been so tough on his team.
Answers continued to elude the Yankees on Saturday, as they humiliated themselves in a 12-1 loss to the Red Sox. The Yanks are now 1-8 against their oldest rival and a combined 4-15 against the Red Sox and first-place Blue Jays this season.
Those are devastating records against division foes with Aaron Boone’s third-place ballclub chasing Alex Cora’s second-place squad in the American League East and Wild Card standings.
“There’s absolutely frustration,” Rice said Friday. “Those are our division [rivals]. So we gotta be better. Gotta find ways to win our division games.”
Saturday’s bloodbath began with the Red Sox taking care of business against Will Warren, who totaled seven hits, five earned runs, three walks, three strikeouts and 69 pitches over just four innings.
Boston began scoring in the third inning when Trevor Story smacked a two-run double off Warren. More trouble found the righty in the fourth, as Trent Grisham misplayed a leadoff ground-rule double from Ceddanne Rafaela with the wind blowing in center field. The play, which had a 90% catch probability, preceded sac flies from Roman Anthony and Alex Bregman, which put the Red Sox up, 4-0.
Giancarlo Stanton responded with a solo homer off Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet in the fourth, giving the scorching slugger 16 dingers in his last 37 games. But Story clapped back with his own bases-empty blast to lead off the fifth, ending Warren’s afternoon.
Crochet, on the other hand, cruised through seven innings. The Stanton home run was the only mistake the lefty made, and he racked up 11 strikeouts against an offense that didn’t show much life in the first two games of this series.
A Cy Young contender, Crochet also tallied five hits, one walk and 103 pitches before the Red Sox added a few more runs off Paul Blackburn in the ninth. With Jarren Duran, Nathaniel Lowe and Rafaela all picking up RBI singles, Yankees fans raced for the exits while Bostonians chanted “Let’s go Red Sox” in the Bronx.
The Yankees fans who did remain were then treated to some seriously ugly baseball, as the struggling Anthony Volpe airmailed a throw to first and allowed another run to score. It was his 17th error of the year, tying him with Elly De La Cruz for the major league lead.
Blackburn then balked a run in before surrendering a two-run homer to Carlos Narváez. Just like that, a disappointing loss turned into a total laugher.
With another series against the Red Sox already lost — Boston took 5-out-of-6 games over two sets in June — the Yankees will try to avoid a four-game sweep on Sunday Night Baseball.
Dustin May will start for the Red Sox. The ex-Dodger has been solid since being acquired at the trade deadline, posting a 2.87 ERA over 15.2 innings for his new team.
Meanwhile, Carlos Rodón will try to play the part of stopper for the Yankees. The All-Star has a 2.50 ERA over his last three starts, but he’s allowed eight earned runs over 10 innings against Boston this season.
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