All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' loss to the Yankees, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:
HEADLINES
Bello strong: This figured to be a good test for rookie righthander Brayan Bello -- facing the first-place Yankees for the first time in his brief major league career -- and he passed it easily. Bello allowed just two baserunners through the first three innings before running into some trouble in the fourth. But after a double steal by the Yankees gave them two runners in scoring position with one out, Bello worked to dig out of the mess, fanning Isiah Kiner-Falefa and getting Marco Gonzalez on an inning-ending groundout. The Yankees managed three runs off him in the fifth, but all three were unearned and due to inept defense behind him. In five innings of work, Bello walked just one and fanned six and continued to impress.
Sloppy play all around: Two errors in the fifth inning led to three unearned runs for the Yankees -- and that was just a bit of the sloppiness that the Sox exhibited in the field. There was also a double steal that succeeded because Connor Wong got careless with lazy throws back to the mound. Later, center field Abraham Almonte misjudged one ball in center and dropped another, and J.D. Martinez, in attempting to beat out the back end of a double play, lunged for the first base bag and somehow managed to both come up short on the front end and clear the bag entirely with his other leg. Initially ruled safe, the call was challenged, resulting in Martinez being called out and a run coming off the board for the Sox. It was that kind of night.
Sox can't cash in: This has been a theme for the Sox almost from the start. The Sox were a woeful 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position. Time after time, they had scoring chances -- both against starter Nestor Cortes and the New York bullpen -- but couldn't fully take advantage. In the sixth, the Sox got a leadoff walk and followed it with three consecutive strikeouts. In the eighth, they had first-and-second with no out and somehow came away with just one run.
TURNING POINT
In many ways, the tone for this one was set early. In a scoreless game in the bottom of the second, the Red Sox seemed positioned for a big inning after Rafael Devers stroked a leadoff double and was soon joined on base by J.D. Martinez, who drew a walk. But with runners at first and second and no out, the Sox not only didn't score -- they didn't advance either baserunner with a flyout, a strikeout and a popup to follow, ending the threat and stranding two baserunners in the process.
TWO UP
Kaleb Ort: Facing his former team, Ort pitched a scoreless seventh inning and registered two strikeouts. He's unscored upon over his last six appearances.
Reese McGuire: He came off the bench to pinch-hit in the eighth and continued to deliver offensively, producing a leadoff single.
TWO DOWN
Connor Wong: He got lazy throwing the ball back to the mound too softly, resulting in a double steal, and later made a critical throwing error that led to two runs scoring.
Xander Bogaerts: It was a forgettable night all around for Bogaerts, who fanned in each of his first three plate appearances and also contributed an error in the field.
QUOTE OF NOTE
"That kind of sums up our season, right there, right? Just short. We are where we are because we're short in certain areas and we haven't been able to finish games.'' Alex Cora on the play at first in which J.D. Martinez failed to touch the bag.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
* The three errors for the Red Sox were the most in a game since July 27.
* The loss dropped the Sox to 20-42 against AL East opponents.
* The sweep was the seventh suffered by the Red Sox this season.
* Tommy Pham has scored six runs in the last nine games.
* Reese McGuire is 4-for-7 as a pinch-hitter this season.
UP NEXT: The Red Sox are off Thursday before beginning a weekend series against Kansas City Friday. In the first game, it will be RHP Michael Wacha (12-1, 2.89) vs. RHP Jonathan Heasley (3-8, 5.51) at 7:10 p.m.