The Yankees' bats continued to slump, Will Warren struggled, and the Red Sox turned the game into a laugher late, as New York fell 12-1 on Saturday afternoon in The Bronx.
A seven-run ninth inning inflated the score after the Yankees had two on with one out in the previous half inning, but again, they couldn’t get the big hit when it mattered. The home team managed just seven hits and two walks compared to 17 hits and five walks (plus a hit batter) for the visitors.
Garrett Crochet just ate the Yanks’ lunch, save one pitch in the fourth inning, allowing one run on five hits and a walk over seven innings with 11 strikeouts on 103 pitches (72 strikes).
With the loss, New York's eighth straight to Boston, the Yankees are now 69-60 (37-28 at home) on the year and 1.5 games behind the Red Sox (71-59).
Here are the takeaways...
- Warren allowed a single and a walk with a strikeout through two frames, but got into a spot of bother with one out in the second when back-to-back singles put runners at the corners. After falling behind 2-0 to Alex Bregman, the Yanks’ infield came for a visit to see if Warren could regroup, but he walked the Sox third baseman on a full count, one pitch after another defensive miscue as catcher Austin Wells whiffed on a pop-up behind home plate, battling a high sky. Warren got Jarren Duran swinging at a curveball in the dirt, but hung a sweeper right over the plate to Trevor Story, who lined it down the line in left for a two-RBI double to open the scoring.
Warren was right back in a jam two pitches into the fourth: Ceddanne Rafaela cranked a ground-rule double to center and David Hamilton singled to left to cover the corners. After the Yankee righty hit Carlos Narváez with a 1-2 pitch, a Roman Anthony sac fly to deep center was followed by Bregman’s sac fly to deep left, doubling Boston’s advantage.
Warren's first pitch of the fifth was deposited into the right field seats by Story, as a sinker over the plate was sent out in a hurry (106.2 mph, 373 feet). And that would be the end of his day. His final line: 4.0 innings, seven hits, five runs, three walks, and three strikeouts on 69 pitches (41 strikes). His ERA is now 4.47 on the year.
- Giancarlo Stanton started off the bottom of the fourth by driving a Crochet fastball 370 feet to right-center for his 16th home run of the season. The slugger smoked the ball (103.7 mph off the bat) that just snuck over the wall for a homer that only would have happened in The Bronx
He got his seventh start of the year in right field and caught the first ball hit at him, but looked less than convincing catching the first-inning liner. In the later innings Red Sox clearly made an effort to try and take an extra base on every ball hit to right and did so successfully each time. At the plate, he finished the day 1-for-4 with three strikeouts.
- Aaron Judge went down swinging on a high, 99 mph fastball his first time up against Crochet, and came within inches of a double down the line in left before going down swinging on a cutter in his second at-bat. Judge just missed a two-run home run in the fifth, taking a 98 mph fastball on the outer portion of the plate to right, but it went for a hard-hit (104.1 mph), 338-foot flyout to the wall.
He laced a one-out double into the right-center gap in the eighth (115.7 mph) off Red Sox reliever Greg Weissert.He finished 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.
- Cody Bellinger notched a two-out infield single in the first off Crochet but went down looking to end the third and slammed his helmet down after disagreeing with the call on a pitch that caught the corner. He finished 2-for-4 with a strikeout, adding a single off Weissert.
- The Yankees got a runner in scoring position with one out in the second on an errant throw on a fielder’s choice, after not having a runner reach second on Friday night. After Jose Caballero worked a walk, there were two men on and two two-out for Wells, but the catcher got jammed and flared out to the shortstop just behind second.
The Yankees finished the day 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position (the lone hit not netting a run) with eight runners left on base. Stanton and pinch-hitter Jazz Chisholm Jr. had chances for a late rally with the corners covered in the eighth, but both went down swinging.
- Anthony Volpe, who has been struggling mightily at the plate, lined out to shortstop first at-bat and tried to bunt for a hit with a runner on first and one out in the fourth, and was thrown out at first. (The official scorer at The Stadium tried to save the shortstop some indignity, judging it to be a sac bunt.) He finished 0-for-3 with a strikeout looking and committed his 17th error of the year on a bad throw. He is now slashing .208/.274/.400 and again heard boos from the Bronx faithful.
- Amed Rosario added two singles in three at-bats and is now 6-for-11 in seven games in pinstripes before being lifted for a pinch hitter.
- Paul Goldschmidt, who just wears out lefties, was hitless with a strikeout his first two trips before singling up the middle off Crochet. Finished 1-for-3. He was lifted for a pinch-hit to start the eighth, with Ben Rice flying out.
- Trent Grisham went 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Caballero finished 0-for-2 with a strikeout and two walks.
- Wells went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. The catcher is now slashing .209/.264/.420 on the year.
- The bullpen was called upon to get 15 outs. Tim Hill got the first five, allowing two singles with a double play and two strikeouts mixed in. Ex-Met Paul Blackburn, in his Yankee debut, got the next four before allowing a runner on a leadoff walk, but quickly erased it with a 6-4-3 double play. Blackburn saved a run when he smartly backed up third on Hamilton’s two-out triple before stranding him there.
A lead-off double off the top of the wall in right by Anthony led to two more Red Sox runs with three straight one-out singles. A two-out single plated another run before an infield hit to Volpe led to a throwing error to score another. Blackburn then compounded things by balking in a run and then hanging a sweeper to Narváez, who deposited into the visitor's bullpen for a 414-foot two-run homer.
Blackburn, in what may end up being his lone appearance for the Yanks, was charged with seven runs (all earned) on eight hits and two walks in 3.1 innings with a strikeout on 71 pitches (44 strikes).
Who's the MVP? Garret Crochet
Boston's starter was simply terrific and had just a 30 percent called-strike whiff rate, but allowed just five hard-hit balls all game.
Highlights
What's next
The Yanks will look to avoid the four-game sweep on Sunday night. First pitch is at 7:10 p.m.
Left-hander Carlos Rodon (3.24 ERA and 1.068 WHIP in 152.2 innings) takes the ball for his 27th start of the season. He has racked up 169 strikeouts (to 60 walks) this year, good for fourth most in the American League. His 6.072 hits per nine innings are tops in the AL.
Righty Dustin May (4.59 ERA and 1.362 WHIP in 119.2 innings) climbs the hill for the visitors, for his 22nd start of the year and fourth since arriving in Boston in a trade. May has found a bit of form with his new club, allowing five runs on 19 hits in 15.2 innings with 17 strikeouts to four walks.
