All good things must come to an end.
The New York Yankees snapped the Boston Red Sox’s six-game win streak Thursday with a 4-1 win, punching their ticket to the postseason in the process. And the Red Sox certainly didn’t help their own case by scoring only one run after scoring 24 through the first three games.
Red Sox starter Rich Hill wasn’t flawless, but he did enough for the Red Sox to catch up. However, the offense simply wasn’t there, and he had to go home with the loss. But hey, three out of four ain’t bad.
Let’s look at how it happened.
GAME IN A WORD
Disappointing.
The Red Sox were on fire, scoring 41 runs during a six-game win streak, but it came to an abrupt end Thursday. The Red Sox could barely muster any offense, and it was tough to watch them go down without much of a fight.
IT WAS OVER WHEN …
Rob Refsnyder homered in the eighth inning to put the Yankees up 4-1.
It wouldn’t have been a huge task for the Red Sox to pick up two runs in the ninth inning, but needing three runs to tie and four to win seemed like too much with the way Boston’s offense was playing.
ON THE BUMP
— This outing was bound to happen for Hill because even the best starters aren’t flawless every time they step on the mound. Still, Hill was solid even though he wasn’t as dominant as he was in his last three starts.
Hill’s biggest hiccup was the second inning, when he gave up a solo home run to Carlos Beltran and allowed another run after walking two batters. But the left-hander ended the night with a respectable two runs on four hits with six strikeouts and three walks.
— Jean Machi came on in the seventh and gave up a home run to Greg Bird, extending the Yankees’ lead to 3-1. He struck out two and allowed two hits (including the homer) in his inning.
— Heath Hembree started off the eighth by giving up a home run to Refsnyder. He struggled to finish the inning, too, allowing another hit and walking two batters before the third out.
IN THE BATTER’S BOX
— Mookie Betts continued his fabulous series by going 2-for-4 with two singles. His second hit in the fifth inning scored Deven Marrero to put the Red Sox on the board.
— The Red Sox stranded plenty of baserunners in this contest. Only Jackie Bradley Jr., Xander Bogaerts and Rusney Castillo didn’t have at least one hit for Boston. And Bogaerts walked twice, while Bradley walked once.
But the Red Sox were 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position and ultimately ended up leaving eight men on base.
UP NEXT
The Red Sox head to Cleveland on Friday to take on the Indians in their final series of the season. Rookie left-hander Henry Owens will go against Indians starter Josh Tomlin in the 7:10 p.m. ET game.
Thumbnail photo via Anthony Gruppuso/USA TODAY Sports Images
