Red Sox Wrap: Boston Drops Wild Extra-Inning Affair To Yankees

The Red Sox and Yankees traded numerous blows Saturday night at Fenway Park but New York ended up coming out on top with an 11-8 win in 10 innings.

The Red Sox dropped to 55-48 while the Yankees improved to 61-45. Boston now sits 4 1/2 games behind New York in the standings.

Check out the full box score here.

ONE BIG TAKEAWAY
It was a tug-of-war all night between the Red Sox and the Yankees.

The Yankees eventually won out but Boston’s bullpen was complicit in another loss yet again.

Boston’s bullpen issues are glaring at the moment. The Red Sox have now blown a lead in the seventh inning or later in seven out of eight games since the All-Star break.

The Red Sox held an 8-6 advantage in the eighth inning but saw that deficit evaporate. Kenley Jansen even had the Yankees down to their last strike, but Trent Grisham came through with a two-out double to produce the game-tying run in the top of the ninth inning before New York went on to score three times in the 10th to put the Red Sox away.

Despite Boston’s relievers being unable to close things out, the Red Sox showed resiliency practically everywhere else on the diamond.

It all started after Kutter Crawford allowed back-to-back home runs in the top of the first inning to Juan Soto and Aaron Judge to put Boston into a 3-0 hole. But the Red Sox responded right away with three runs in the bottom of the first inning to erase the three-run deficit. That was just the start of the back-and-forth.

New York pulled ahead in the following frame despite an unreal effort from Wilyer Abreu. But Boston kept coming up with answers. The Red Sox scored twice in the bottom of the second to go in front and when the Yankees leveled the score twice in the middle innings, Boston pulled back in front in its very next at-bats each time. The Red Sox have Tyler O’Neil to thank for that.

The Red Sox showed a good deal of poise in the loss. But they need to give some of that poise to their struggling bullpen.

STARS OF THE GAME
— O’Neill powered the Red Sox offense with a 3-for-4 effort, which included four RBIs. He hit a two-run double in the first inning and provided a solo homer over everything in left field in the fifth. He broke another deadlock in the seventh by lifting a Michael Tonkin pitch into the Green Monster seats. O’Neill is up to 22 homers on the season and has six since the All-Star break.

— Judge followed up his 470-foot bomb he hit in the series opener with a monster performance. Judge went 4-for-4 with two walks and three RBIs. He also hit a solo shot, but this time it only went 432 feet.

— Clay Homes pitched two big innings in relief for the Yankees to earn the win. He didn’t allow a hit or a run while striking out two and walking one in his outing.

UP NEXT
The Red Sox and Yankees play the rubber match of their series Sunday night at Fenway Park. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET and the game can be seen on ESPN. The Red Sox return to NESN airwaves Monday night when they open up a three-game series against the Seattle Mariners.