Yankees Make Dubious History In Sloppy Home Loss To Red Sox

The New York Yankees didn’t play crisp baseball to start their four-game series against the Boston Red Sox.

Boston struck first by notching a 6-3 victory at Yankee Stadium on Thursday night. Five Red Sox relief pitchers kept the Yankees off the scoreboard, but they owe some credit to their longtime nemesis for assisting their triumph.

New York committed four errors, and their pitchers combined to issue nine walks. Statistician Katie Sharp noted that the Yankees hadn’t registered those two unfortunate feats in the same home game since 1912.

The Yankees made three of those errors in a messy second inning. Starting pitcher Luis Gil couldn’t handle a ground ball hit back to the mound, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. threw a ball into the dugout when attempting to erase that miscue with a double play.

Ceddanne Rafaela scored when Ben Rice sailed a ball into the outfield while trying to catch David Hamilton stealing second. Gil walked two batters that inning.

All in all, the Yankees were probably lucky to escape the frame with just one run allowed. Their last error, however, proved more costly.

Paul Goldschmidt, a four-time Gold Glove first baseman, allowed Hamilton to reach base for the fourth time by mishandling a ground ball. Later in the inning, Roman Anthony crushed a two-run home run with two outs.

Chisholm told reporters after the game, via SNY, that he’s not worried about those errors.

“I feel like we have great fielders on the team,” Chisholm said. “We’ve got a bunch of Gold Glovers in the infield.”

Yankees fans may feel differently. After all, the Bronx Bombers also committed four errors in a July 23 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays and seven throughout that three-game set. Toronto is now 4.5 games ahead of New York in the American League East.

The Red Sox went 3-for-19 with runners in scoring position, so the walks didn’t hurt the Yankees nearly as much as they could have. Gil worked around five free passes to permit just two runs in five tightrope innings.

After Boston broke a 2-2 tie in the seventh, Luke Weaver loaded the bases by walking the free-swinging Rafaela and Hamilton, who improved his OPS to .506. Weaver hadn’t issued two walks in an outing since April 6, but he and Tim Hill pitched out of the jam.

The Yankees will look to clean up their act when they host the Red Sox on Friday at 7:05 p.m. ET.