The last time the Yankees faced the Red Sox, the since-traded Rafael Devers hit a home run for Boston.
Yankees starter Luis Gil had not yet made his season debut, while Boston’s Alex Bregman was dealing with a quad strain that delayed his introduction to the century-old rivalry.
But one thing that hasn’t changed in the two-plus months since then?
The Red Sox continue to find ways to beat the Yankees.
The Yankees dropped Thursday night’s series opener in the Bronx, 6-3, for their sixth consecutive loss against the Red Sox, who are now only a half-game behind them for the American League’s top wild card spot.
The Yankees (69-58) committed four errors and a costly balk in Thursday’s defeat, leading to three unearned runs on a night Boston (69-59) went 3-for-19 with runners in scoring position.
“Just not a real clean game for us,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Obviously, a lot of free bases there. For the most part, in the first half of the game we were able to overcome them. … But just not a great night for us.”
Three of the errors occurred in the second inning, starting with Gil failing to field Masataka Yoshida’s leadoff comebacker.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. then overthrew first base on a potential double-play ball, allowing Ceddanne Rafaela to reach safely and advance to second. Rafaela later scored from third when catcher Ben Rice overthrew second base on a steal by David Hamilton, giving the Red Sox a 1-0 lead.
“I think Rice could have eaten it, but we were throwing through,” Boone said. “But I thought Hamilton got a really good jump, so that’s one of those, if you feel [it] as a catcher, you can eat that ball. But I thought Jazz did the right thing. Especially as good as Jazz’s arm is, [if] he gets a lot on that throw, I think we’ve got a chance to turn that.”
Rice atoned for his miscue with a game-tying solo shot — his 20th homer of the season — against Boston starter Lucas Giolito in the bottom of the second.
Paul Goldschmidt’s RBI single against Giolito broke the 1-1 tie in the fourth, and Chisholm’s run-scoring bloop single off of left-hander Justin Wilson gave the Yankees a 3-2 lead in the fifth.
But the Yankees faltered again in the sixth, when reliever Camilo Doval was burned by an infield single by Hamilton, then committed a disengagement balk that moved him to second base. Rookie phenom Roman Anthony’s ensuing RBI single tied the game, 3-3.
Nathaniel Lowe’s RBI double against Luke Weaver gave the Red Sox a 4-3 lead in the seventh and proved to be the game-winner. Boston tacked on two runs in the ninth when Hamilton reached on a fielding error by Goldschmidt, then scored on a two-run homer by the 21-year-old Anthony in his Yankee Stadium debut.
The Yankees also issued nine walks, including five by Gil, who limited Boston to two runs (one earned) over five innings in his fourth start since returning from a high-grade lat strain.
“I felt like tonight was one of those nights that we beat ourselves,” Chisholm said.
“It doesn’t really concern me moving forward. I feel like we have great fielders on the team. We’ve got a bunch of Gold Glovers in the infield. It’s baseball.”
After totaling 14 homers and 19 runs in their previous two games, the Yankees went scoreless for the final four frames in Thursday’s loss, which snapped a five-game winning streak.
They are now 1-6 against the Red Sox, whom they beat in their first meeting on June 6 in the Bronx before dropping the final two games of that series and getting swept at Fenway Park a week later.
“We’ve played a lot of close games with them,” Goldschmidt said. “They’ve been able to make one more play, one more pitch, one more hit than us. Hopefully, we can change that tomorrow.”
With Thursday’s loss, the Yankees fell to 4.5 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays in the AL East.
They are 1.5 games ahead of the Seattle Mariners, who hold the third and final AL wild card position, and 3.5 games ahead of the Kansas City Royals, who are on the outside looking in.
The four-game series against Boston continues Friday night, with Max Fried (13-5, 3.26 ERA) set to start for the Yankees and Brayan Bello (9-6, 3.23 ERA) scheduled to pitch for the Red Sox.
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