Final: Yankees 9, Red Sox 6

The Red Sox fell short of a sweep of the Yankees, done in by a poor start from Chris Sale and sloppy play in the field, leading to a 9-6 loss to New York and snapping a three-game losing streak.

Sale spotted the Yankees a 4-0 lead on two, two-run homers in the first four innings.

The Sox cut the lead in half on a two-run homer from Andrew Benintendi in the fourth, but the Yankees kept adding on with two in the sixth and two more in the seventh. Sale was eventually charged with six runs in 5.1 innings.

A costly throwing error by Jackie Bradley Jr., who threw to first base when no one was covering, was one of three Red Sox errors on the night.

WHO: Red Sox (59-47) vs. New York Yankees (66-38)
WHEN: 7:05 p.m.
WHERE: Fenway Park
SERIES TO DATE: Boston 3-0
SEASON SERIES TO DATE: New York 6-4
STARTING PITCHERS: LHP Chris Sale (5-9, 4.00) vs. RHP Domingo German (4.03)
TV/RADIO: ESPN/WEEI 93.7 FM

IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:

10:11   Red Sox load 'em up with one out....and leave them that way on a Bradley strikeout and fielder's choice for Christian Vazquez.

9:18    Huge mental error by Jackie Bradley Jr., who came in to make a bases-loaded basket catch and fired to first to double up Luke Voit. Just one problem: first baseman Mitch Moreland was at the pitcher's mound, serving as the cutoff man, and the ball lands in the Red Sox dugout, allowing two runs to score

8:52   As great a year as Xander Bogaerts has had, his range at SS leave something to be desired. Ground single by Cameron Maybin up the middle gets under his glove to score a run and closes the book on Sale -- 5.1 IP, 5 H, 6 ER.

8:48  Booming double by Gio Urshela scores Gleyber Torres from first and that's it for Sale.

8:30  Huge pitch for Sale, who slips a curveball -- not usually a pitch in his repertoire -- past Luke Voit, stranding runners at the corners.

8:15   Andrew Benintendi homers for the second straight game to RF -- but this is driven deep into the box seats in right, not just past the foul pole. Homer cuts the Yanks' lead in half.

8:00  Very nearly a replay of the previous inning -- a one-out walk, followed by an off-speed pitch up in the zone. This time: a hanging slider which Didi Gregorius murders , deep into the seats in RF.

7:43  Sale leaves a changeup to Austin Romine and the catcher hits it into the Monster Seats.

7:27  Sale worked Luke Voit away for first five pitches, then busted him inside with a four-seamer for called third strike.

7:23 J.D. Martinez, among the hottest hitters in the Red Sox lineup of late (15-for-36) flails at a curveball low and outside, stranding Rafael Devers.

7:12 Strong first inning for Chris Sale, who needs just nine pitches to get two strikeouts and a squibber in front of the plate.

LINEUPS



RED SOX

Betts RF
Devers 3B
Bogaerts SS
Martinez DH
Benintendi LF
Holt 2B
Moreland 1B
Bradley CF
Leon C

YANKEES

Hicks CF
Judge RF
Encarnacion DH
Voit 1B
Gregorius SS
Torres 2B
Urhsela 3B
Maybin LF
Romine C

WHAT's UP: The Red Sox are a season-best 12 games over .500...They've won three in a row, five of six and 15 of 22...The Sox have homered in 24 of their last 27 games, with 51 homers  in that span...They lead the majors in batting average (.276), runs scored (620), runs per game (5.85), OBP (.348), doubles (233) and are second in slugging percentage (.476) and OPS (.823)….The Sox have a chance to record their first four-game sweep of the season...After scoring just seven runs in their first four games against the Yankees, the Sox have scored 67 runs in the last six games, with eight or more scored in each of the last five...In the last six, they're batting .407 with 49 extra-base hits and 18 homers for a 1.206 OPS...With five runs scored tonight, the Red Sox can set a record for the most runs in a four-game series between these two teams...The current record is 42, held by the Yankees, in the infamous Boston Massacre series in September of 1978..The Red Sox also have 33 extra-base hits in the series and 21 doubles, both franchise records for a four-game series, regardless of opponents...Red Sox starters have gone at least 5.2 innings in each of the last seven games, the longest such stretch of the season...In the last six of those, starters allowed three earned runs or fewer....The Sox are 12-6 in their last 18 home games, 6-1 in their last seven at Fenway and are two games above .500 (27-25) for the year...After collecting just three RBI in his first 24 games, Rafael Devers has 79 in his last 79...During that span, he's hitting .344 with 21 homers and a 1.023 OPS...Devers leads the majors in hits (137), is second in runs (85), doubles (35) and extra-base hits (59)...Mookie Betts leads the majors in runs scored with 96 and is on pace for 146...Andrew Benintendi has multiple hits in four of his last games and has 11 RBI in his last 17.....Xander Bogaerts has a three-game hitting streak, as does Jackie Bradley Jr. and Michael Chavis.....J.D. Martinez has nine RBI in his last six games...Chris Sale has won his last two starts, allowing just two runs in those games....In four career starts against the Yankees at Fenway, he has a 2.20 ERA...In his last nine starts against the Yankees, he has a 2.95 ERA...Edwin Encarnacion is 7-for-21 (.333) with three homers against Sale lifetime....Aaron Judge is 4-for-20 (.200) with 13 strikeouts...Brock Holt is 3-for-4 in his career against Domingo German and Bogaerts is 2-for-2 with a homer.