FINAL: Yankees 5 , Red Sox 4 - Boston Bullpen Blows Game in Five-Run 7th Inning Highlighted by Aaron Judge Grand Slam

The Red Sox fell to the New York Yankees 5-4 at Yankee Stadium on Friday night.  Boston led 4-0 but the bullpen gave up five runs in the seventh inning which was highlighted by an Aaron Judge Grand Slam.

Richard Fitts got the start after a late scratch for Tanner Houck. Fitts got out of a bases-loaded jam in the first inning and shut down the Yankees. Fitts went five scoreless innings of two-hit ball, two strikeouts and three walks. 

It was not until the sixth inning when Masataka Yoshida hit a two-run home run that gave the Red Sox a 2-0 lead.

 Trevor Story added two more in the seventh inning on a two-run shot of his own. 

Zack Kelly walked the first two batters he faced in the seventh which led to an Anthony Volpe RBI single. Cam Booser took over but it did not get any better as Juan Soto walked to load the bases. That brought up Judge for his 52nd homer of the season.

Luke Weaver came in to record a six-out save. 

The Red Sox will be back in action tomorrow afternoon when Brayan Bello takes the mound for the Red Sox at 1:05 p.m. 

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WHO: Red Sox (74-73) at New York Yankees (85-62)
WHEN: 7:05 p.m.
WHERE: Yankee Stadium, Bronx.
SERIES TO DATE: 5-5 (3-3/2-2)
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Richard Fitts (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. RHP Clarke Schmidt (5-3, 2.34 ERA)
TV/RADIO: Apple TV+, WEEI-FM 93.7
LIVE BOX
LINEUPS
RED SOX
Duran CF
Devers 3B
O'Neill LF
Yoshida DH
Wong C
Abreu RF
Casas 1B
Story SS
Rafaela 2B

SP Richard Fitts

YANKEES
Torres 2B
Soto RF
Judge CF
Wells C
Stanton DH
Chisholm Jr. 3B
Rizzo 1B
Volpe SS
Verdugo LF

SP Clarke Schmidt 

WHAT'S UP
The Red Sox are 4-3 in their last 7 games following a season-long 5-game losing streak.>>> The Sox are 7-13 in their last 20 games, 18-22 in their last 40, and 21-30 in 51 games since the All-Star break. 

 BOS lost last night's series opener at NYY, 2-1, in 10 innings. It marked the 2nd time this season that the Red Sox played consecutive extra inning games (also 7/4-5). Boston went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position, and are 3-for-24 over their last 2 games with RISP.

The Red Sox have been held to 3 runs or fewer in 9 of their last 12 games and 14 of their last 20. The Sox are hitting .221 with a .663 OPS in their last 23 games (beginning 8/19), after batting .285 with an .836 OPS in their first 28 games after the All-Star break.

The Sox are 13-8 in their last 21 games against the Yankees, dating back to 6/11/23...NYY took the most recent series from 7/26-29 at Fenway Park (2-1).                 The Sox won a pair of 3-game series vs. NYY: 6/14-16 at Fenway Park (2-1) and 7/5-7 at Yankee Stadium (2-1). Since the start of 2021, 41 of the 61 games (67.2%) between these teams have been decided by 3 runs or fewer...BOS is 30-31 vs. NYY during that span.

Double-A Portland is a 0.5 game back of Somerset for the Eastern League Northeast Division's 2nd-half title (3 games left). With 9 games remaining, Triple-A Worcester is 2.5 games back in the International League's 2nd-half standings...They're 25-7 in their last 32 games.