Live from New York, it’s a Saturday night loss.
For the third time this week, the Red Sox fell under .500.
Despite out-hitting the Yankees, they fell to them 3-1. They’re 32-33 on the season now, dwelling in the cellar of the American League East, 14 games out of first.
Just as the Red Sox did to them in Friday night’s series opener, the Yankees gutted out a win by plating two homers and an RBI single.
But while not enough to win it, the lone Red Sox run was notable.
For the second night in a row, Rafael Devers went yard in Yankee territory. His 15th home run of the season not only traveled 417 feet, but put him in sole possession of a unique franchise record. His home run in Friday night’s series opener was his 10th career homer in the Bronx, and moved him into a tie with Babe Ruth for the most home runs by a Red Sox player in a Yankees ballpark before turning 27; his Saturday night blast set a new record.
Otherwise, it was a night of wasted opportunities for the Boston bats. They collected seven hits and four walks, and went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position, leaving 11 men on base.
Masataka Yoshida’s at-bat in the top of the seventh kicked off a particularly frustrating moment. After working a 14-pitch at-bat for a two-out walk, Justin Turner joined him on base with a walk of his own. Unfortunately, their patience at the plate was for naught, as Devers grounded out on the second pitch he saw.
That the Red Sox also wasted one of the only dominant starts they’ve had recently compounds the loss.
Other than a pair of solo home runs, Tanner Houck was strong through six innings. Facing 22 Yankees batters, he held them to three hits and a walk, and struck out six.
Yankees starter Domingo Germán wasn’t able to limit base runners nearly as well, but the Red Sox didn’t take advantage. He, too, pitched six innings, but allowed six hits, two walks, and stuck out five.
For the Red Sox, this has been a stretch of digging themselves into a deeper and deeper hole. They’ve dropped 13 of their last 19, and are 2-6 in their last eight games, hitting .214 with just 19 total runs over the latter span.
They’re 10-for-73 (.137) with runs in scoring position and have left 70 runners on base in that span.
They’ve been back at the bottom of the division since May 30, but it wasn’t until recently that they lost their above-.500 record, too.
Forget treading water, this is a team that can’t even keep its head above water lately.
Worse yet, there’s no indication that’s going to change any time soon.
