Some losses are uglier than others. And this one sure wasn’t pretty.
The Boston Red Sox suffered a 13-3 loss to the New York Yankees in Tuesday’s series opener at Yankee Stadium. All eyes were on Red Sox rookie Henry Owens, who made his major league debut in the Bronx, but his performance ended up having very little bearing on the final outcome.
GAME IN A WORD
Exacting.
On a night when so much outside emphasis was placed on Owens’ debut, and rightfully so, the 23-year-old did some good things for the Red Sox. He exited with Boston leading 2-1.
Everything fell apart from there, though. Boston’s bullpen had a long, long, long night. New York’s offense simply pounded the unit into the ground en route to a blowout win.
Owens’ start certainly represented a silver lining, but man, the rest was painful to watch.
IT WAS OVER WHEN…
The Yankees stomped all over the Red Sox in the seventh inning.
Yankees setup man Dellin Betances entered in the middle of an at-bat in the seventh and walked Jackie Bradley Jr., who subsequently swiped second base to put two runners into scoring position for Brock Holt. Betances, who leads all major league relievers in strikeouts, fanned Holt to escape the jam.
New York’s offense then went to work. The Yankees exploded for nine runs in the bottom of the seventh to turn a 4-3 lead into a 13-3 advantage. Brian McCann and Chris Young each drilled a three-run homer.
Game. Set. Match.
ON THE BUMP
— Owens flashed his upside in his major league debut.
The left-hander labored in the first inning, allowing one run on two singles and a walk while throwing 34 pitches. He minimized the damage by retiring McCann and Carlos Beltran, and then settled down after surrendering a leadoff single to Chase Headley to begin his second inning of work.
Owens retired 12 in a row between the second and fifth innings. Red Sox manager John Farrell summoned Robbie Ross Jr. from the bullpen after Owens gave up a single to Young and a wall-ball double to Alex Rodriguez to begin the bottom of the sixth. Boston’s one-run lead soon vanished.
Owens struck out five — four swinging (three on sliders, one on a changeup) and one looking (on a curveball) — in his five-plus innings. He walked only one and allowed five hits. Three runs were charged to Owens, as both of the runners Ross inherited in the sixth inning ended up scoring.
— It took two pitches for Ross to lose the lead and three pitches for the Yankees to jump ahead.
Ross, who entered in a very tight jam, allowed an RBI single to Mark Teixeira upon taking over for Owens. McCann jumped on the next pitch — the first pitch he saw from Ross — for a go-ahead double.
Pablo Sandoval made a nice diving stop when Beltran yanked a chopper to the left side. It resulted in an out, but Teixeira trotted home from third base with New York’s fourth run of the game.
The Yankees never looked back.
— Jean Machi recorded the final out of the sixth inning and came back out for the seventh inning, at which point he struggled and the bullpen imploded.
Jacoby Ellsbury reached on an error, Young walked and Rodriguez singled into center field to extend the Yankees’ lead to 5-3 before Farrell turned to Craig Breslow with still no outs.
It’s been a shaky first two outings with Boston for Machi, who earned a save Sunday despite surrendering a solo homer to Logan Forsythe. He was charged with three runs (two earned) Tuesday.
— Breslow was kicked all over the yard en route to a five-run yield in two thirds of an inning.
— Alexi Ogando surrendered a three-run homer to Young in the seventh inning — two runs were charged to Breslow — and then pitched a scoreless eighth.
IN THE BATTER’S BOX
— The Yankees gift-wrapped a couple of runs for the Red Sox in the fifth inning.
Mike Napoli hit a fly ball to left-center field with one out that inexplicably dropped between Young and Ellsbury on the warning track. It goes down in the box score as a double, but it should have been caught by someone, probably Young.
Alejandro De Aza then opted to bunt. He showed bunt on two straight pitches that were balls before eventually dropping one down the third base line. Masahiro Tanaka ruined everything by getting in Headley’s way. De Aza reached at first base as Napoli took third.
Blake Swihart singled home Napoli for Boston’s first run. Bradley gave the Red Sox a 2-1 lead with a sacrifice fly to left field that scored De Aza, who astutely advanced two bases on Swihart’s single.
— Sandoval absolutely demolished a home run to right field in the seventh inning. The solo blast trimmed New York’s lead to 4-3 at the time.
— Rusney Castillo pinch-hit for De Aza in the seventh. He singled, stole second base and moved to third base on Betances’ wild pitch, though he never scored.
Castillo also collected an infield single with two outs in the ninth.
TWEET OF THE GAME
Brutal.
[tweet https://twitter.com/IanMBrowne/status/628750768477224962 align=’center’%5D
UP NEXT
The Red Sox and Yankees will throw down again Wednesday in the Bronx. Steven Wright will face Luis Severino, who, like Owens, will make his major league debut.
Severino ranked No. 17 on Baseball America’s Midseason Top 50 prospects list, which was released last month.
Thumbnail photo via Andy Marlin/USA TODAY Sports Images
