BSJ Game Report: Yankees 4, Red Sox 1 - Boston offense struggles as Yankees sweep doubleheader

All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' loss to the Yankees, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:

BOX SCORE

HEADLINES

Sox offense sputters as Yankees sweep doubleheader: The Yankees pulled away from the Red Sox in the top of the ninth in another low-scoring slog, scratching a pair of insurance runs across for the 4-1 final in the nightcap of Tuesday's doubleheader.  With the win, New York swept the doubleheader and moved into a tie with Boston in the basement of the American League East, both sitting at 73-72. Ceddanne Rafaela picked up his first career home run, blasting the first pitch of the bottom of the first over the Monster to open the scoring. After tying the game in the top of the fifth, the Yankees took a 2-1 lead in the top of the sixth, cashing in with a bases-loaded force out. 

TURNING POINT

Bottom of the seventh and eighth: After falling into the 2-1 hole, Boston had back-to-back chances to swing momentum back in their favor in the seventh and eighth innings. After a Rafaela double and a Triston Casas walk, Adam Duvall had a golden opportunity to help Boston regain the lead, but went down swinging. In the eighth, Trevor Story singled before an intentional walk for Rafael Devers, but Connor Wong struck out before Rafaela lined out to end the inning. 

Top of the ninth: Kenley Jansen allowed a walk and a single before a stolen base put runners on second and third for New York. Nick Robertson came on in relief of the injured Jansen, and an intentional walk of Aaron Judge loaded the bases. Gleyber Torres' RBI single extended the Yankees' lead to 3-1 before Connor Wong's catcher's interference against Austin Wells with the bases loaded allowed one more insurance run to come across for the 4-1 final. 

TWO UP

Ceddanne Rafaela: Bounced back from a tough game at the plate this afternoon. His first career homer was a blast, projecting to have gone 400 feet over the Monster if it didn't nail the light tower with a 103.8-mph exit velocity. Added a double en route to a 2-for-5 finish. 

Zack Weiss: In just his second appearance for Boston since coming over from the Angels via waivers in August, came through with back-to-back strikeouts against Aaron Judge and Gleyber Torres to get the Sox out of a seventh-inning jam with runners on first and second. Slider was clearly effective against Judge and Torres, making up all eight pitches he threw across the two at-bats. Got both guys swinging low-and-away. 

ONE ‘MEH’

Kutter Crawford: Crawford struggled in the first, throwing 25 pitches as he managed to escape a bases-loaded jam. From there, he settled into a decent groove, striking out four of the next seven batters he faced. But in what's become a trend of late, he hit a wall in the fifth inning as the Yankees tied it with a walk and an RBI single. Finished with seven strikeouts and one walk in 4.2 innings, allowing one run (earned) on three hits. Solid, but a longer outing might have gone a long way. 

FIVE DOWN

Adam Duvall: Continues his ice-cold stretch at the plate, picking up the golden sombrero as he went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts. Two of his strikeouts came with runners in scoring position. Killed all the seventh-inning momentum with runners on the corners, waving at a low-and-outside curveball to end the inning. 

Connor Wong: Speaking of killing momentum with RISP, Wong went down swinging with runners on the corners in the bottom of the first and struck out with runners on first and second in the eighth. Added a groundout with a runner on second as well. Catcher's interference with the bases loaded in the top of the ninth allowed New York to make it 4-1. 

Offense with RISP: Boston was 0-for-15 with runners in scoring position, stranding 12 in total and six in scoring position with two outs. The Sox were 0-for-4 in the first game of the doubleheader. Of their 19 at-bats with RISP, 10 were strikeouts.

Kenley Jansen and Nick Robertson: Jansen struggled before exiting the game with what the Red Sox called "fatigue and illness symptoms" – Alex Cora said he was feeling dizzy after the game. Robertson inherited a jam and couldn't limit the damage before getting out of it, although Wong's interference didn't help the cause. 

NOTABLE 

The Red Sox did not challenge the call at first on Story's bunt in the bottom of the sixth. Had they, he likely would have been safe after the replay showed Jake Bauers' foot came off the bag. 

In Tuesday's doubleheader, the Red Sox hit .200 (.000 w/ RISP). Starters had a 3.60 ERA, and the bullpen had a 2.25 ERA over 8.0 innings. 

In his career against Boston, Carlos Rodon is now 2-3 with a 3.34 ERA, a 2.25 opponent average and an 11/44 BB/K over 35.0 innings.

Aaron Boone picked up his 500th career win as a manager. 

Hat tip to goldenboy for dropping these stats during the live coverage, Duvall is now 0-for-17 with 14 strikeouts in his last four games. He's hitting .097 in September. 

QUOTE OF NOTE

"You know, we keep fighting. We keep battling," Crawford said of Boston's mentality down the stretch as they're out of the playoff race. "Obviously, we know our chances are slim, but showing up to the ballpark with your tail tucked between your legs doesn't make it any more fun. Winning's fun. So I think as a clubhouse, we're still going out there trying to compete and win every ballgame." 

UP NEXT

Third of the four-game set will be Wednesday evening at Fenway with first pitch set for 7:10 p.m. RHP Tanner Houck (4-9, 5.28 ERA) is scheduled to face RHP Clarke Schmidt (9-8, 4.54 ERA), who was set to start Monday before the series opener was rained out.