How Red Sox Player Responded To Defensive Miscue In Playoff Loss

The Boston Red Sox are going home earlier than they wanted to following Thursday night’s series-ending 4-0 loss to the New York Yankees. Some sloppy defense cost them dearly in the winner-take-all Wild Card matchup.

New York scored all four runs in a messy fourth inning where Boston’s fielders did no favors for rookie starting pitcher Connelly Early. The rally began when a diving Ceddanne Rafaela couldn’t secure a Cody Bellinger fly ball to center field, resulting in a leadoff double.

Rafaela reflected on the play after the game, per The Athletic’s Steve Buckley.

“Right there, I just gave my all to catch it,” Rafaela said. “I saw (right fielder Wilyer Abreu) maybe didn’t have a chance, so I gave my all to catch that ball. … I just saw he wasn’t going to be able to get to it, and I dove to catch it.”

Ultimately, Rafaela reasoned that the Yankees got a fortuitous break on a ball that landed in the right spot.

“It’s baseball,” he said. “You put the ball in play and whatever happens, happens. And the ball fell today their way.”

It would have been a sensational play, but it’s one Red Sox fans grew accustomed to Rafaela making. The 25-year-old could soon receive his first career Gold Glove Award after registering 20 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) in center field, the second-highest mark among anybody behind Steven Kwan’s 22 DRS in left field.

The Yankees capitalized when Amed Rosario drove home Bellinger with an RBI single for the game’s first run. Up 2-0 following another hit from Anthony Volpe, first baseman Nathaniel Lowe committed a fielding error that allowed two more runs to score.

Trevor Story also made a throwing error in the sixth that didn’t yield any more runs. But the Yankees had already plated plenty for Cam Schlittler, who wrote himself into franchise lore with eight scoreless innings to send New York into an American League Division Series showdown with the Toronto Blue Jays.