NEW YORK -- With a chance to gain a split of the series and leave town with the same divisional lead they had when they arrived Thursday, the Red Sox instead fell flat Sunday night, blown out by the New York Yankees, 9-2.
The loss moved the Yanks back to within 3.5 games of first in the A.L. East with exactly four weeks remaining in the regular season. The two teams do not play again this season.
Chris Sale was tagged for three solo homers and left after just 4.1 innings, needing 109 pitches to record 13 outs. Sale didn’t beat the Yankees in any of his five starts against them this season.
The Sox finally broke through against Luis Severino in the sixth, with some contributions from the Yankee defense. Two errors by Todd Frazier and a passed ball by Gary Sanchez got the Sox on the board.
But in the bottom of the inning, the Red Sox bullpen completely fell apart. Joe Kelly and Robby Scott filled the bases and after an infield hit scored one run, Addison Reed yielded a bases-clearing double to Starlin Castro and a two-run missile to left by Aaron Judge, blowing the game wide open.
GAME NO.: 137
WHO: Red Sox (77-59) vs New York Yankees (72-63)
WHEN: 7:35 p.m.
WHERE: Yankee Stadium
TV: ESPN
RADIO: WEEI (93.7 FM)
PITCHERS: Chris Sale (15-6, 2.77) vs. Luis Severino (11-6, 3.14)
BOX SCORE: MLB Gameday
IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:
- Rough night all around for Chris Sale, who gives up three solo homers -- a season high -- and leaves after just 4.1 innings, his second-shortest outing of the season. Sale labored much of the night, needing 109 pitches to get 13 outs. In five starts this season, Sale failed to beat the Yankees, though some of that, admittedly, was due to poor run support. (He shut them out over 7.2 innings at Fenway in July, then saw the Yanks tie the game off Craig Kimbrel in the ninth and win it in the 16th). There will be a lot of talk about Sale wearing down. Thanks to some upcoming off-days in the schedule, Sale will have the opportunity to get an extra day in each of his next two outings. That seems to be coming at the right time.
- Dustin Pedroia has really struggled in his return to the lineup. On Friday night, he struck out three times in four at-bats and tonight, he's fanned in both plate appearances, both times swinging at pitches far out of the strike zone. A certain amount of rust is expected after three weeks on the DL, but it will ignite questions about how wise it was for Pedroia to not get at least some at-bats under his belt in a minor league assignment before being activated.
- It was a brutal inning for Addison Reed in the bottom of the sixth. Reed may have gotten squeezed on a couple of pitches by home plate umpire Sam Holbrook with Gary Sanchez at the plate. But after Reed reached on an infield single, Reed fell apart, giving up a bases-loaded double to Starlin Castro and a two-run tape-measure homer to Aaron Judge. That's the fourth homer allowed by Reed in 15 outings.
- Xander Bogaerts is out of the lineup for a third straight day, as the Red Sox look to get him some time to rebound from the hand injury that's been bothering for nearly two months. Additionally, Bogaerts has had time to watch video and do some work in the cage to help turnaround a slump that, not coincidentally, dates back to the injury. Bogaerts is expected back in the lineup Monday night. Eduardo Nunez got the start again at short.
- David Price is expected to throw 35 pitches -- including breaking pitches and changeups --- in a bullpen session at Fenway Monday. "After we get though that,'' said John Farrell, "hopefully we'll begin to see when he might face some hitters (in a simulated game). I don't want to get ahead of ourselves....but he's feeling pretty about himself.''