Fenway Park was buzzing with excitement on Saturday afternoon, as the Red Sox were looking to rebound from their loss to the Yankees on Friday night. Instead, when the final outs echoed throughout the ballpark and the scoreboard on the Green Monster read, "Yankees win 5-3," the reality started to set in.
Boston is losing ground in the race for the postseason and trails their archrivals by 2.5 games for the top wild-card spot and is beginning to feel the heat from the Texas Rangers, who are now just two games back of the Red Sox.
It’s likely the Red Sox will make the postseason for the first time since 2021, but poor play and the emergence of other teams in the American League are starting to make the Sox squirm just a bit.
Alex Cora knows that nothing is guaranteed in baseball and isn’t mentally punching his ticket for October.
“I think we should stop talking about October, to be honest with you,” said Cora. “There’s a lot of stuff going on, and we have to play better. I’m not saying we’re in a bad spot. But we have to wait to see if October is part of this.”
The Sox need to win some of their remaining crucial games this September, and the Yankees dealt another blow to Boston in the wild card chase.
Boston desperately needed Yankee killer Brayan Bello to offer a dominant performance on Saturday afternoon. Throughout 10 career games against the Yankees, he owned a 1.95 ERA, the best mark by any major leaguer with a minimum of 10 starts against them in the Live Ball Era.
The Yankees knocked Bello around the ballpark over the first five innings, plunking the first batter of the game, Trent Grisham, with a four-seam fastball. Ben Rice followed with a ground-rule double to center. Bello would face Aaron Judge and walk him on four pitches.
Cody Bellinger’s fly ball to deep center field was good for a sacrifice fly, and Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s slow ground ball up the third-base line became an RBI single, giving the Yankees a 2-0 lead after the first inning.
“I didn’t have the command today and I wasn’t attacking the hitters,” Bello said. “I feel like the main thing for me was getting ahead. I wasn’t doing that.”
New York tacked on another run in the third on Chisholm’s half-swing single through the left side of the infield. Then in the fifth inning, Chisholm homered off Bello to make it 4-0.
“It was a bad start for me,” Bello said through a team translator. “I don’t think I was competing from the first inning to the last inning.”
Jazz Chisholm Jr. gives the @Yankees a 4-run lead with his 29th blast of the year 💥 pic.twitter.com/k0AcXlDqsK
— MLB (@MLB) September 13, 2025
Yankees starter Max Fried pitched 5 1/3 innings, allowing two runs on nine hits with two walks while striking out six.
Alex Bregman, who has been scuffling at the plate, finally put Boston on the scoreboard with his 17th homer of the year off Fried in the fifth. The Yankees southpaw left the game with one out and two runners on in the sixth after Connor Wong’s RBI single cut the Sox’ deficit to 4-2.
Jarren Duran came off the bench and gave the Sox a jolt with his first career pinch-hit home run in the eighth. As Duran watched the ball disappear into the bullpen, the crowd roared, but that flicker of momentum was only temporary. New York had already landed their punches like a heavyweight boxer early in the game and wore down the Sox.
Jarren Duran comes off the bench and makes it a 1-run game in Boston 👀 pic.twitter.com/gJLbWFMj74
— MLB (@MLB) September 13, 2025
Aroldis Chapman has come back down to earth really fast in the last couple of days. The dominant lefty hadn’t allowed a run or hit in 17 straight appearances before Wednesday, when he gave up a run and two hits in a walk-off loss to the Athletics.
He struggled again on Saturday afternoon, giving up a single to Judge and an RBI double to Bellinger as the Yankees added an insurance run to go ahead 5-3.
It was the third loss in a row for Boston, and they have dropped to 3-6 since Roman Anthony has gone on the injured list with a left oblique strain. The Sox have lost each of their last three home games and eight of their last 11, dating back to August 17, after winning nine of their previous 10.
“Obviously we didn’t do enough tonight,” said Bregman. “Just keep plugging along, keep fighting, keep working at our craft. And our best baseball’s ahead of us.”
The two rivals will wrap up their three-game series on Sunday night, beginning at 7:10 p.m., which can be seen on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball. Boston will send their ace, Garrett Crochet (15-5, 2.57 ERA), to the mound in an attempt to end their current losing streak. New York will counter with right-handed pitcher Will Warren (8-6, 4.22 ERA).