Red Sox 4, Yankees 6: One day, two losses

I’ve run out of words, and really the desire to talk about baseball for the day. The Red Sox lost the second end of the doubleheader on Saturday after losing the first just a few hours earlier. That’s seven losses in a row and their playoff chances are dropping rapidly with each and every L.

The Red Sox did not have a great afternoon as their ace got absolutely obliterated by the Yankees to push Boston’s losing streak up to six games. They had a players-only meeting after the game to try and iron out some of these issues, but the solution seems to be pretty simple: Play good baseball. The talent is there, but it’s just not showing up on the field. The good news — or bad, depending on your disposition, I suppose — is that they didn’t have much time to wait before they got another crack at snapping this skid. They had another game just a few hours after the last one ended.

Neither team had typical starters for the second game of this doubleheader as the Red Sox sent Brian Johnson to the mound while New York countered with an opener in Chad Green. It worked in the first couple innings for both sides. The Red Sox managed just a walk over the first two frames while the Yankees did get two runners on in each inning but Johnson pitched out of both jams.

In the third, the action started to pick up. It was Marco Hernandez kicking things off for Boston as he led off the inning with a double out out to right field. Mookie Betts couldn’t get him home, but Rafael Devers did him one better. The budding star got an 89 mph fastball that caught too much of the inner half and he absolutely launched it out to the right field power alley. For the second time of the day, the Red Sox struck first at Yankee Stadium.

In the first game, Chris Sale waited a couple innings before giving New York the lead. Johnson was not going to wait so long, though he also didn’t implode in the way that Sale had. The Yankees got on the board when Gleyber Torres hit a fastball up in the zone out to left field fo a solo homer, cutting the Red Sox lead in half. Johnson doesn’t have the velocity to throw fastballs that aren’t above the strike zone.

After the homer, the hits just kept coming against Boston’s southpaw as the Yankees got back-to-back base hits before Cameron Maybin ripped a double down the left field line. That scored two runs and put the Yankees on top by a run. Thankfully, Maybin cost the Yankees a chance at more runs when Mike Tauchman flew out to center field. Maybin thought there were two outs in the inning and was doubled off second base to end the frame.

Still, the Red So were now trailing 3-2 and needed to get back to work. They didn’t waste much time as Sam Travis drew a leadoff walk in the fourth before Christian Vázquez hit a double to put a pair in scoring position with nobody out. After a pop out and a strikeout, they were in danger of squandering this important chance. Instead, Mookie Betts came through with a clutch base hit, scoring two and putting Boston back up by a run.

Marcus Walden then came on for the fourth and kept the Yankees at bay, allowing just a walk in a scoreless inning of work. Unfortunately, Josh Taylor couldn’t do the same in the fifth. Torres was the first batter he faced and he also tried to sneak a high fastball by the Yankees infielder. He suffered the same result as Johnson, giving up a solo homer that tied the game at four apiece.

Taylor did make it until there were two outs in the sixth, but after allowing a base hit to DJ LeMahieu Taylor’s night was over. Aaron Judge was coming up next and Matt Barnes was coming in out of the bullpen to try and end the inning with the score still tied. Judge put up a tough at bat, but Barnes eventually got him on a scorched ground ball and we were on to the seventh.

The righty would come back out of the seventh, and that turned out to be an ill-advised decision for Cora. Barnes had no command to start the inning allowing a leadoff double before walking the next two batters he faced to load the bases with nobody out. After a big strikeout, the Yankees got a base hit from Tauchman to score two and take a 6-4 lead. Barnes then walked one more for good measure before Colten Brewer was called upon with the bases loaded and just one out. The righty came through in the big spot, keeping the deficit at two.

In the eighth, the Red Sox lineup looked ready to come back strong and make sure this game was back to at least a tie. Vázquez got things started with a tie before Brock Holt drew a walk. Eventually, they had the bases loaded and two outs for Devers, but it just wasn’t meant to be. Devers struck out on three pitches, and that was that.

After a scoreless inning from Brandon Workman in the eighth, the Red Sox had one more chance against Aroldis Chapman. They did get a J.D. Martinez walk to bring the potential tying run to the plate twice, but that’s all they’d get as the Yankees took their second game of the day and the Red Sox lost their seventh game in a row.

The Red Sox and Yankees have one more game left in this series on Sunday. It’ll be David Price vs. J.A. Happ. First pitch is at 7:05 PM ET.

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