All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' 9-6 loss to the Yankees, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:
BOX SCORE
HEADLINES
Sale regresses: Red Sox starter Chris Sale had shown signs of turning the corner in his last couple of starts. He tossed six shutout innings against Toronto on the first homestand after the All-Star break, allowing just two hits. Then, he gave up just two runs over six innings against Tampa Bay. But with the Red Sox going for the sweep of the Yankees Sunday, Sale took a step backward, yielding six runs in 5.1 innings. Twice, he issued one-out walks and then gave up two-homers to the next hitter. Then in the sixth, his final inning of work, he issued a leadoff walk, after a forceout, gave up a run-scoring double. "The walks kind of put him in a bad spot,'' bemoaned Alex Cora. "The command was OK, the slider was on-and-off, I think. But the walks put him in a bad spot.
Bradley's mental error proves costly: A key point in the game came in the seventh inning. The Yankees had the bases loaded and one out when Didi Gregorius hit a flyball to shallow center field. Jackie Bradley Jr. came sprinting in and made a basket catch in shallow center. Bradley checked the runner at third, saw that he didn't have a play at second and then saw Luke Voit about halfway to second. Xander Bogaerts, noting how far Voit had strayed, instinctively pointed to first base. Bradley fired to first ... except that no Red Sox players were nearby, with first baseman Mitch Moreland having properly moved to behind the mound to line up (or cut off) a potential throw to home. The ball went into the Red Sox dugout, allowing two runs to score. "I tried to make a play when there was no play,'' confessed Bradley. "It's a play I shouldn't have tried to make.''
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Benintendi stays hot: After smacking a homer and adding two doubles on Saturday, Andrew Benintendi kept swinging it Sunday, going 3-for-5 with four RBI, including another homer. Unlike the one Saturday, which just carried past the right field foul pole, this one was positively crushed, hit deep into the right-field box seats and measured at 415 feet. As Benintendi returns to the swing he utilized in college, he's re-asserted himself in the box and is now batting .333 (25-for-75) over his last 18 games with 15 RBI in that span. Now hitting fifth in the order, he's helped to lengthen the Red Sox lineup and given the Sox another power source from the left side to go along with Rafael Devers.
TURNING POINT
The Red Sox had battled back to cut the Yankees' 4-0 lead in half. But in the top of the sixth, Sale got off to the wrong start by walking Gregorius. A fielder's choice and a run-scoring double by Gio Urshela ended Sale's night and put the Yankees on track to reclaim a four-run lead before the end of the inning.
ONE UP
Xander Bogaerts: Bogaerts was 3-for-5 with two runs scored, collecting his 36th multi-hit game of the season. He's hitting .417 since the All-Star break.
ONE DOWN:
J.D. Martinez: Martinez was 0-for-4 on the night with three strikeouts, while stranding five baserunners in the process.
QUOTE OF NOTE:
"Without me, we have a pretty good chance to win this game.'' β Sale
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING:
- The Sox hit 11 homers in the series, the most they've hit in a series this season.
- Rafael Devers had a double, his sixth of the series.
- When Didi Gregorius homered off Sale in the fourth, he snapped a streak of 285 straight lefty hitters to face Sale without homering.
- With 44 runs, the Red Sox scored the most number of runs in a four-game series in their history.