Yankees Takeaways: Yankees' defense costs them agianst Boston
The Yankees' defense melted down in the fifth in loss to Boston
BOSTON — The Yankees lost 6-3 to the Red Sox. The Red Sox have stunk at Fenway Park. Not against the Yankees, though. It took a four-run fifth inning for Boston to take the lead over the Yankees, and they never looked back.
Shakey Defense
The Yankees’ defensive woes appeared early in this one and did not go away, committing four errors on the day. The last time they did that, against Boston last August. In the first inning, Austin Wells committed a catcher’s interference after Wylier Abreu appeared to have grounded out. Then, Schlittler arm-mailed a ball into center on a pickoff attempt for the second error.
While not ruled an error, the battery of Schlittler/Wells dropped a popup that cost Schlittler some pitches that could have helped him on the backend of the outing.
“I mean, gotta take responsibility for that,” Yankees starter Cam Schlittler said. “I mean, we’ll just kind of sit in there; it’s communication, so on that one, just give them opportunities to try and, you know, get on the same page.”
Then, after Schlitter issued a walk and a single to lead off the sixth inning, Rosario dropped a pop-up in foul ground to give Abreu new life in the at-bat. He struck out in the big spot. Then, a ball that was 112 MPH off the bat was grounded to Rosario, who booted the ball and started the flood of four Boston runs.
There was also a bad throw by Jose Caballero on a sac fly; with a good throw, the runner would be out at the plate.
Schlittler would have been out of the inning had it not been for the Yankees’ bad defense. It seems to always pop up at Fenway Park in June for some reason.
The defense also showed up later on with Yerry De Los Santos bobbling a bunt back to him to give the Red Sox bases loaded with no outs, looking for insurance. They got it on a hit by pitch and a misplay by Volpe that could not be ruled an error but should have been.
“[The defense] Not up to the way we’re, we’ve been playing or capable of playing, you know, and ultimately it was too much to overcome.” Manager Aaron Boone said after the game. “I mean, you got to keep playing, sometimes, and it’s not fun going through that are fun when you make mistakes in a game, especially one that you have a lead, and it’s a close game for most of that game, which is, you know, we didn’t play well.”
You just can’t win games when your defense commits four errors.
Offense with RISP
The Yankees certainly had chances early in the game against Boston’s lefty Connelly Early. They could not capitalize further than the two runs they got against him. Ben Rice had chances with RISP, as did Volpe, to dig the Red Sox in a deep hole, but they could not.
After the second inning, the Yankees had just one baserunner, a home run by Caballero, until the seventh inning. Their inability to continue to put pressure on Early kept him in the game much longer than he should have been.
The Yankees can’t say they did not have chances, because they did. They squashed them as they have for the past week.
Tomorrow, the Yankees and the Red Sox will play again from Fenway Park. It will be Will Warren against Peyton Tolle, two more young starters who should be part of this rivalry for years to come. First pitch will be at 7:10pm on YES and the Gotham Sports App.