The Yankees downward spiral just got worse as the rival Red Sox came back in the final frame and then walked it off in extra innings.
As another chapter in baseball’s best rivalry was written on Friday night in Fenway Park, it seemed like the New York Yankees were about to get off the schneid after a troubling stretch at the end of July and start of August with a great performance against the Boston Red Sox.
New York took a 2-0 lead in the top of the third inning with yet another Aaron Judge home run. Boston responded in the bottom of the fourth with an RBI single from J.D. Martinez but still trailed 2-1 and seemingly lost their bats. After that single, the Red Sox didn’t have a hit for the rest of the game until the bottom of the ninth. Then things took a turn.
Clay Holmes had zero command on the mound and walked two runners aboard. That’s when Martinez came through again with a single to tie it up and force extra innings. Garrett Whitlock got out of a mini-jam with the ghost runner in the top of the 10th, which led to a weird bottom of the first extra frame. A groundout advanced Christian Arroyo to third and then Reese McGuire seemingly surprised everyone with a bunt single that Arroyo didn’t run on.
That brought trade deadline acquisition Tommy Pham to the plate with runners of first and third and only one out.
Red Sox walk off Yankees to further New York’s struggles
Despite coming into the at-bat at 0-for-4 with three strikeouts on the night, Pham delivered in the biggest moment.
Like Derek Zoolander and Hansel in the underground world of male models, that’s a walk-off!
Obviously, Boston needed that win in the worst way as their outside chances of making the playoffs have started to dwindle. But it’s an even bigger story for the Yankees who seemingly can’t get out of their current downward spiral.
With the loss to the Red Sox, New York has now lost nine of its last 11 games and they’ve found a way to go down in a variety of fashions as well — though a walk-off loss to a rival probably stings the worst. They’ve been overtaken for the best record in the American League and have struggled mightily to back up good pitching performances, be consistent on the mound, and just generally look like a good baseball team.
New York isn’t in danger of anything just yet but Friday’s loss in Boston certainly isn’t going to do anything to silence the alarm bells going off. In fact, they just got a bit louder.
