All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' loss to the Yankees, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:
HEADLINES
Defense proves costly again: In the line score, the Red Sox were not charged with any errors. But a couple of huge misplays in the eighth inning proved highly costly. With the Sox holding a 3-2 lead and two on, it appeared as though Aaron Judge had fouled out to first. But Bobby Dalbec, unsure of how much room he had to make a play, pulled up a bit short in pursuit of the ball and had it fall in, giving Judge an extended at-bat. Then, Judge foul-tipped what should have been the third strike, but on the transfer, catcher Christian Vazquez dropped the ball and home plate umpire Joe West ruled it a dropped pitch, giving Judge further life. (The play was not reviewable.) Naturally, Judge took full advantage, ripping a two-run double to center to put the Yankees ahead to stay. Alex Cora has said repeatedly that his team can't afford to give good teams extra outs, and yet, that's exactly what the Sox did -- twice, within one at-bat -- and paid dearly for their mistakes. Ironically, because neither was officially an error, the Sox streak of "errorless'' games was extended to eight straight. Another irony: the Yankees also made two errors in the previous inning, twice dropping routine pop-ups or flyballs, resulting in two runs scoring.
Bullpen gives it up: On Saturday, the game turned in the eighth when Tanner Houck and Darwinzon Hernandez couldn't turn back the Yankees lineup. On Sunday, it was time for Garrett Richards and Adam Ottavino to struggle. Richards, who had worked a 1-2-3 seventh, walked the first two hitters he faced -- the first was thrown out stealing -- and then allowed a double, giving the Yanks runners at second-and-third. Next, came Ottavino, who saw Judge twice get second chances before yielding a two-run double, followed by another moonshot over everything by Giancarlo Stanton. And just like that, what had been a one-run lead turned into a three-run deficit. It marked the second straight game in which the Sox allowed a lead change in the eighth inning by allowing four runs.
SECOND GUESS
Alex Cora has done a generally good job handling his pitching staff for much of the season, but lately, he seems to be averse to pushing his starting pitchers -- to the detriment of the staff. Cora is short some key relievers at the back end (Garrett Whitlock, Josh Taylor) of his bullpen, and you'd think that would result in leaning more heavily on his starters. That would place less of a burden on his relievers at a time when he's not at full strength there. Instead, Cora lifted Eduardo Rodriguez after just 81 pitches when it seemed like the lefty could have given at least one more inning.
ONE UP
Eduardo Rodriguez: In what potentially was his final home start in a Red Sox uniform, Rodriguez went five innings and allowed two runs on six hits with eight strikeouts.
TWO DOWN
Adam Ottavino: Ottavino has said it's ''uncomfortable'' pitching against his former teammates and it sure looked it. He faced three hitters: two-run double, two-run homer and hit batsman.
Bobby Dalbec: Hard to imagine a worse night overall. At the plate, Dalbec struck out in each of his four plate appearances. In the field, he dropped a catchable pop-up a few pitches before Aaron Judge ripped a go-ahead two-run double.
QUOTE OF NOTE
"Even though this was a disappointing weekend for us, we still have it in our hands moving forward. If the season ended today, we'd be in, so all we have to do is take care of our job against Baltimore and Washington.'' -- Adam Ottavino
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
* Christian Vazquez threw out Tyler Wade attempting to steal second twice in consecutive innings.
* Hansel Robles extended his scoreless streak to 11 straight appearances.
* Jose Iglesias extended his hitting streak to a season-high 12 games.
* Kike Hernandez has scored eight runs over his last seven games.
UP NEXT
The Red Sox are off Monday before starting a three-game series in Baltimore Tuesday against the Orioles at 7:05 p.m. with LHP Chris Sale (5-0, 2.57) vs. TBD.