The Red Sox dropped their third straight series Sunday, trounced by the Yankees 9-1 and dropping their second straight to New York after seven straight wins.
The Yankees led 3-0 until the Red Sox completely imploded with the duo of Darwinzon Hernandez and Brandon Workman issued five walks and allowed four more runs, turning the game into a blowout.
Martin Perez was chased after just four-plus innings and the Red Sox managed just five hits. For the series, they had just six runs scored.
WHO: Red Sox (56-37) vs. New York Yankees (47-44)
WHEN: 7:07
WHERE: Yankee Stadium
SERIES TO DATE: 1-1
SEASON SERIES TO DATE: BOS 7-1
STARTING PITCHERS: LHP Martin Perez (7-5, 4.04) vs. RHP Jameson Taillon (4-4, 4.90)
TV/RADIO: ESPN; WEEI-FM 93.7
LINEUPS:
RED SOX
Hernandez 2B
Verdugo LF
Martinez DH
Bogaerts SS
Devers 3B
Renfroe RF
Duran CF
Vazquez C
Arroyo 1B
YANKEES
LeMahieu 3B
Stanton DH
Sanchez C
Torres SS
Gittens 1B
Amburgey RF
Odor 2B
Lamarre LF
Allen CF
IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:
B7: Workman has melted down. After recording two quick outs, he's issued three straight walks, forcing in two more runs.
B7: Darwinzon Hernandez, brought in for a string of lefties, allows a leadoff single to the first (Brett Gardner) and a two-run shot to the next (Rougned Odor). He then walks two more. Four hitters faced, all of them reach. He's out, Brandon Workman on.
T6: Red Sox waste a second-and-third one out chance and come up empty. They're 0-for-5 with RISP tonight and Hunter Renfroe is hitless in his last 17 at-bats with RISP.
T6: One-out single from Martinez followed by a Bogaerts doubles gives the Sox two runners in scoring position. Taillon out, Chad Green on.
B5: Whitlock does a nice job retiring all three hitters he faces, but Yanks add a run.
B5: A bunt, a seeing-eye grounder and an errant throw that skips away and the Yanks have two on and no out. That's all for Perez. Garrett Whitlock on.
T5: Red Sox get a one-out double from Christian Vazquez, but can't produce the hit to score him. Inning ends with Vazquez stranded on third.
B3: Christian Arroyo, making his first start ever at first, appeared to suffer a groin pull as he stretched for a throw. He's left and replaced by Bobby Dalbec. Arroyo just can't stay healthy.
B3: Few guys in the big leagues execute the hit-and-run better than DJ LeMahieu. Nicely done there and the Yankees have runners at the corners.
T3: Just one baserunner for the Red Sox through the first three innings against Yankee starter Jameson Taillon.
B2: For the second straight night, Gleyber Torres has left the yard, homering to left, giving the Yanks a 1-0 lead. That's seven homers allowed in his last seven starts for Martin Perez.
B1: Is Giancarlo Stanton trying? He's 0-for-8 with five strikeouts in this series.
WHAT'S UP: At 56-37 (.602), the Red Sox are tied with the Astros for the AL’s second-best record. The Sox are 24-14 (.632) in their last 38 games but just 2-5 in their last seven....This is the fourth time in nine years the Red Sox were in first place at the All-Star break...They won the AL East in each of the previous three instances (2013, ‘17, ‘18). The Sox are 22-11 (.667) vs. AL East teams, tied with the White Sox for the highest winning percentage for any AL team within its own division.....The Sox are 30-22 (.577) vs. teams that entered today with a winning record...They are 11-16 vs. AL West teams and 45-21 (.682) vs. all others...The Red Sox snapped an eight-game winning streak against the Yankees Saturday night...It was their longest win streak vs. NYY since a 9-0 stretch from 2008-09. This was the third time the Sox started a season 7-0 or better vs. NYY (14-0 in 1912, 8-0 in 2009)...Red Sox pitchers recorded 18.0 consecutive scoreless innings before giving up a run in the fifth inning last night, their second-longest streak of 2021....The Sox have held NYY to three runs or fewer in eight of the last nine meetings, out-scoring them 51-22 in that time. The Sox have held the Yankees to three runs or fewer in five consecutive games, their longest streak vs. NYY since 2016 (also 5 games)...They have not had a longer single-season streak since 1990 (six straight games)....In their last 19 games, Red Sox starters have posted a 3.39 ERA...Red Sox starters have thrown five or more innings 72 times, tied for third-most in the majors (OAK-82, LAD-73, CWS-72)...The Sox are 47-25 (.653) in those games....The Red Sox are tied with the Brewers for MLB’s best road record (28-18, .609)...They have a 3.70 ERA on the road (sixth in MLB) and a 4.40 ERA at home (24th). The Red Sox are 28-19 (.596) at home, the fourth-best record in the AL (10th-best in MLB)...They are 13-6 (.684) at home since Fenway opened to full capacity on May 29....Jarren Duran made his MLB debut last night, starting in CF and batting sixth (1-for-2, BB, R)...In the second inning, he hit the 1st pitch he saw for a single, then came around to score the game’s first run. Duran became the first Red Sox player to record a base hit on the first pitch of his first MLB plate appearance since 2010, when Daniel Nava (June 12 vs. PHI) and Yamaico Navarro (Aug. 20 vs. TOR) both did so......Among rookies with 20.0 or more innings pitched this season, Garrett Whitlock owns the lowest ERA (1.44; 43.2 IP, 7 ER)...He has a 0.61 ERA and .200 opponent AVG in his last nine outings (14.2 IP, 1 ER, 18 SO, 4 BB). Whitlock has made 15 scoreless appearances of more than an inning, tied with Jonathan Loaisiga for the most in MLB (among all pitchers, not only rookies)....Prior to giving up 2 runs last night, Red Sox relievers had allowed no runs and three hits in their previous 9.1 IP...In its last 27 games, the Sox’ bullpen has a 3.06 ERA....Sox relievers rank third in the AL and eight in the majors in ERA (3.58)...Their nine active relievers have a combined 2.72 ERA for Boston this season....Josh Taylor has allowed no runs in 27 of his last 28 outings, beginning April 30.....The Red Sox lead MLB with 29 OF assists; no other team has more than 19...Sox outfielders rank tied for first in MLB with 21 defensive runs saved (source: FanGraphs). Hunter Renfroe (RF) and Alex Verdugo (LF) each have five defensive runs saved at their primary position... Kiké Hernández’s 12 defensive runs saved in CF are tied for the most by any player at any position...The Red Sox rank in the top five in the majors in runs scored (third, 469), AVG (fourth, .257), SLG (third, .438), doubles (1st, 196), and extra-base hits (first, 323). The Red Sox have hit 20 three-run homers, most in the AL and tied with the Giants for most in the majors. The Sox have hit four or more homers in a game an MLB-best eight times. The Sox own MLB’s best records when scoring four or more runs (49-7, .875) and five or more runs (42-4, .913).....:In Martin Perez's last five starts (beginning June 19), is 3-1 with a 2.74 ERA....The Sox have won four of his last five starts. Has won his last seven starts when throwing at least five innings...Perez has allowed six HR in his last six starts, after giving up five HR in his first 12 start...In seven road starts, is 4-1 with a 2.04 ERA ...That is the AL’s third-lowest road ERA and MLB’s eighth-lowest .....Perez has allowed no HR to his last 82 lefties faced, including all 68 this season.....He ranks third in the AL in called third strikes (41)....D.J. LeMahieu is 5-for-13 in his career against Perez while Giancarlo Stanton is 4-for-8 with two homers.
NOTES:
* Christian Arroyo is making his first start at first base and Alex Cora is confident he'll handle the position fine. "Good athlete, good defender,'' said Cora. "We're comfortable with it. He's earned his playing time. He's putting up good at-bats, he's hitting good pitching and he deserves to start. He's comfortable with it it and I'm comfortable with it. We'll go from there.'' Cora said he will go with the hot bat in deciding between Arroyo and Bobby Dalbec, with Dalbec playing against lefties and Arroyo getting most of the playing time against RHP.
* Cora mostly avoided comment on the incident from Saturday night in which a fan struck Alex Verdugo in the back with a thrown baseball, but couldn't hide his displeasure with the fact that, for now, there are no charges being made against the fan. "I'm surprised nothing has happened -- let's put it that way,'' he said.
* Danny Santana was set to finish a rehab stint at Worcester and join the Sox in Buffalo Monday. He's been on the IL with a quad pull.
* Cora said the Sox won't advise Verdugo to cut back on his interaction with fans after the Saturday incident. "Yesterday was just one incident,'' he said. "Somebody made a decision. But I like the fact that he talks to them, the back-and-forth. He's getting mic'd up today (for the ESPN telecast) and it should be fun to see what happens.'' Cora said the good interaction between players and fans is "good for the game; we need that. But obviously, (Saturday), it wasn't great for the game. It wasn't great for the people here. Hopefully, it's the last time that something like that happens.''
* MLB executive Michael Hill was expected to visit Yankee Stadium to meet with the managers and team officials about everything that took pace Saturday night.
* Cora said he's in favor of MLB introducing a policy of all games with rain delays being completely finished, even if means resuming the next day or at a future date. More than anything, he wants all games played for nine innings, with no games shortened -- as Saturday's was. "Let's do it like the playoffs,'' said Cora. "Let's finish the games. If you're up in the sixth, let's finish the game. It should be that right now. I do believe that should be it. We've been on the other side, with the lead. I do think we should get to that point.''