Yankees swept by Red Sox, first eight-game losing streak since 1995
Boston Red Sox' Rafael Devers celebrates his solo home run with Justin Turner as Yankees catcher Kyle Higashioka looks on during the first inning of an MLB baseball game at Yankee Stadium on Sunday, Aug. 20, 2023. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Sunday’s game was a better one for the Yankees than the two that preceded it. Of course, the bar had been set rather low in that regard. In those first two games of the series, the Red Sox had outscored them 16-4.
The Yankees were far more competitive Sunday and even fought back from a three-run deficit late, courtesy of a tying three-run homer by rookie Anthony Volpe in the seventh inning.
But in the end, it was much of the same.
After a replay challenge went against the Yankees in the bottom of the eighth — denying them the go-ahead run — the Red Sox pushed across a run in the ninth. That sent the Yankees to their eighth straight loss, 6-5, in front of 43,946 at the Stadium.
“I don’t think anyone’s OK, or anything even close to that, with how we’ve been playing and the results at the end of the day,” Volpe said. “Feel like everyone’s pretty [angry].''
There’s plenty for them to be irked about, starting with their dwindling-by-the-day playoff hopes.
The Yankees (60-64), whose last eight-game losing streak came in 1995, fell nine games behind the Mariners for the American League’s third wild-card spot (the Red Sox, at 66-58, remained three games behind Seattle for the final playoff spot).
The Yankees haven’t led in a game since the second inning last Monday, when they went ahead of Atlanta 2-1 en route to their third straight loss.
“We’ve got to be unbelievable the rest of the way,” Aaron Boone said, cutting short a question about his level of optimism for a playoff push. “So it’s not even about that. It’s about coming to try and win a game Tuesday. And then all of a sudden you start stacking [wins] and then an amazing thing happens. But we’re so far removed from that right now. We have to get a win first.”
The Yankees, who went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position, stranded eight and struck out 14 times, have lost eight of nine to their longtime rivals this season.
“They’ve kicked our [butt],'' Boone said.
His club did battle back from three deficits Sunday. Rafael Devers hit his 29th home run in the first, but Kyle Higashioka homered in the third to tie it. Gleyber Torres homered in the sixth to tie it at 2-2. Justin Turner’s three-run homer against Michael King in the top of the seventh gave the Red Sox a 5-2 lead, but Volpe’s three-run blast off righthander John Schreiber in the bottom half tied it again.
Volpe was front and center in the replay controversy in the eighth when it appeared the Yankees had taken the lead.
With Isiah Kiner-Falefa at first, Volpe lasered a single to left. Former Yankee Rob Refsnyder lost his footing as he fielded the ball and third-base coach Luis Rojas sent Kiner-Falefa, who was running on the pitch. The relay throw from shortstop Trevor Story reached catcher Connor Wong as Kiner-Falefa was sliding into home, and he initially was called safe by plate umpire Junior Valentine.
The Red Sox challenged and the call was overturned after a several-minute delay. The Yankees then challenged that Wong had illegally blocked the plate, but they lost the challenge as the throw took the catcher into Kiner-Falefa’s path.
“I didn’t feel like I had a lane,” Kiner-Falefa said. “The ball did beat me but I didn’t feel like they had enough to overturn it, but who knows.”
According to the MLB replay supervisor, it was “definitively determined that the catcher tagged the runner prior to the runner touching home plate.”
Boone didn’t make too much of it.
“There’s always plays in games,'' he said. "You have to keep moving.”
Turner’s RBI double to rightfield off Clay Holmes in the top of the ninth made it 6-5, but Greg Allen led off the bottom half with a double off the top of the rightfield wall against Kenley Jansen and DJ LeMahieu was hit by a pitch. Aaron Judge struck out looking at a borderline pitch in the lower part of the strike zone, dropping him to 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. Torres struck out swinging and Ben Rortvedt flied to center to end it.
“That’s a gut punch today,” Kiner-Falefa said. “Especially in the fashion we lost it. Getting swept by these guys is definitely tough, but every day we have to show up, do our job and find ways to get better, play hard, and whatever happens happens.”
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
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