NEW YORK -- All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' 10-1 loss to the Yankees, complete with BSJ insight and analysis:
BOX SCORE
HEADLINES
Price wasn't good, but he wasn't as bad as the line suggests, either: The easy narrative would be to suggest this was the same old David Price struggling at Yankee Stadium, but that's not entirely accurate. Granted, Price wasn't the same pitcher who had gone 5-0 with a 1.56 ERA in the last nine games, but there were a few extenuating circumstances at work, too. All three of the homers hit off him -- one by Miguel Andujar and two by Luke Voit -- barely reached the seats of the short porch in right. "It wasn't his best one,'' said Alex Cora, "compared to the last few ones. But he did OK.'' And two runs off him were unearned when, on a hard grounder by Aaron Judge, Eduardo Nunez allowed a ball to go through his legs, resulting in two unearned runs. To their credit, neither Cora nor Price was looking to make excuses. "We talk about keeping the ball in the ballpark and we didn't today,'' said Cora. "It really doesn't matter where you play. We know where we were playing. We hit in the same place, and they hit three home runs to right field.'' Added Price: "Anytime you give up a home run, it's frustrating. But everybody's playing in the same park. It's not like the fences move back when we hit or move forward when they hit. It's part of it.''
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Kelly in a mop-up role: If you were wondering how much Joe Kelly had fallen in the Red Sox bullpen depth chart, the answer was evident Wednesday night. With Price at 93 pitches and having given up two more runs in the sixth, the Sox turned to Kelly. Things only got worse from there -- Kelly faced four hitters and allowed three hits, including a two-run triple. As the Red Sox sort through their relief options in the final weeks, Kelly keeps giving them reasons to not consider him for the postseason roster. Wednesday marked the third time in his last five appearances that Kelly has allowed run and he has a 20.25 ERA in that span. For the season, Kelly's ERA is now 4.45, which is remarkable considering he went through all of April and May and was scored upon just once. Since then, of course, it's been a different story.
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Late-game injuries not serious: Adding injuries to insult, the Sox saw two players leave the game in the last couple of innings. Sam Travis, himself a late-inning replacement as Cora rested players because of the lopsided score, made a terrific running catch off Miguel Andujar in the seventh, but in so doing, collided with the left-field wall. He came out of the game in the following inning, replaced in left by Brock Holt, and complained of some dizziness. Travis was examined by the medical staff after the game and it was determined that he hadn't suffered a concussion. Cora said he wouldn't play Thursday. Later, as the Sox hinted at a bit of a rally in the ninth, Eduardo Nunez reached when he beat out an infield single. But Nunez felt a little something in his left knee and, determining that he might have trouble running if a ball were to be hit into the gap, came out of the game in favor of pinch-runner Tzu-Wei Lin. "It was the smart thing to do,'' said Cora of taking Nunez out.
TURNING POINT
Just as was the case Tuesday night, the Red Sox had their chances -- especially in the early going. They had second-and-third with one out in the first and came away with nothing. Maybe a run or two in the first wouldn't have made much difference in a game lost by nine runs, but it might have changed the tone of the game a bit for the Sox, who have led by one run once in the first two games.
TWO UP
J.D. Martinez: Martinez had three hits, giving him his major league-leading 57th multi-hit game this season. He's hitting .339 against the Yankees this year.
Hector Velazquez: He was the most effective Red Sox pitcher of the night, retiring all four hitters he faced.
ONE DOWN
Xander Bogaerts: Bogaerts stranded three runners in his first two at-bats Tuesday night and Wednesday wasn't much better -- he was 0-for-4 and stranded four baserunners.
QUOTE OF NOTE
"No, not at all. I expect to go out and be great every fifth day. It doesn't matter who I'm pitching against or the ballpark I'm pitching in. It just hasn't been the case here for the last year or two, but I'll get over that.''
— Price, on whether he thinks about his struggles at Yankee Stadium
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- The Red Sox fell to 2-6 at Yankee Stadium this season and are 6-16 there in their last 22.
- The Sox are 1-for-15 with RISP in the series.
- Boston has allowed 10 or more runs five times this season; twice, it's happened against the Yankees.
- Nunez has hit safely in six straight.
- This year, Red Sox relievers have a 6.95 ERA against the Yankees this season.