BOSTON – Aaron Judge produced perhaps the lone highlight the Yankees would like to carry with them from a lost weekend at Fenway Park, a cinematic game-tying home run that capped a power-on-power showdown against Garrett Crochet of the Red Sox on Friday evening.
That ninth-inning blast cleared the Green Monster and landed somewhere out in the darkness on Lansdowne Street. As they gathered their belongings on Sunday, it remained the Bombers’ only run off a Boston starter in the three-game series.
“We just couldn’t really get anything going,” Judge said after the Yanks’ 2-0 loss in the finale. “We couldn’t really string those couple of at-bats together and drop some runs across. They scored first every game, put us in a hole and we weren’t able to dig out of it.”
The Yankees had been the only American League team still yet to be swept this season.
“It sucks losing to the Red Sox. We never like that,” manager Aaron Boone said. “But that’s why teams don’t win 120 games. We’re really good; I think that’s going to continue to show itself.”
On eight previous occasions this season, Max Fried has served as the stopper, delivering a victory immediately following a team loss. It’s a title the stellar left-hander embraces, not because it gives him swagger, but because he enjoys the responsibility it places across his shoulders.
Fried produced another worthy performance on Sunday, but with no support. Aside from Judge’s homer off Crochet, the reigning MVP had a quiet series (1-for-12, nine strikeouts), with the rest of the lineup largely following suit. New York has scored just five runs in its last 36 innings.
“That’s why guys don’t hit .450 with 900 homers,” Boone said. “You’re going to have a weekend where they execute and they get you.”
In Judge’s final at-bat Sunday, Garrett Whitlock induced him to ground into a double play that ended the eighth inning. The pitch was an 85.1 mph slider off the plate; Judge said he’d expanded the zone all weekend and would need to swing at strikes moving forward.
“Definitely, [there were] some pitches off the edge where I was taking some hacks, trying to make something happen,” Judge said.
After winning their first meeting of the year on June 6, New York has lost five straight to Boston, dating to last week in the Bronx. They never led in the three-game set, which featured just 12 total runs -- dominated by pitching throughout.
That represents quite a contrast against what transpired at Yankee Stadium last week, when 50 runs were scored. The Yankees produced no answers for Brayan Bello, as the electric right-hander limited them to three hits over seven scoreless innings, striking out eight.
“We got pitched tough this series,” Ben Rice said.
As in the first two games, the Yankees gave away outs on the basepaths. On Friday, Anthony Volpe was thrown out stealing in the 10th inning, a play that preceded DJ LeMahieu’s first career ejection on a replay-reviewed foul ball.
Saturday brought Jasson Domínguez losing track of the count on Trent Grisham, an inning-ending gaffe. On Sunday, Rice was picked off by Bello in the third inning, having intended to steal third base.
“I just sensed he was falling into a rhythm,” Rice said, “I thought I had a shot to get two guys in scoring position there. Unfortunately, he got the timing pick on perfectly.”
Fried was charged with the loss, but it was hardly his fault; Boston nicked the southpaw for two runs over seven innings. Romy Gonzalez tripled and scored a first-inning run on Trevor Story’s bloop single, and Rafael Devers cleared the Green Monster in left field for a fifth-inning solo homer.
“We know he’s one of the best pitchers in the league,” Devers said.
Fried, who liked his curveball and featured it well, had entered the contest 8-0 with an 0.83 ERA in eight starts immediately following a Bombers loss.
“I definitely wish the outcomes were different,” Fried said. “The way I see it is, I needed to come out and be a little bit better and be able to match [Bello]. He was throwing a lot of zeros.”
The Yanks’ rough weekend in Boston pushed the Red Sox (37-36) back above .500, now riding a five-game win streak that has breathed life into their campaign. The clubs will not meet again until a four-game series at Yankee Stadium in late August.
“Next time, we’ve got to put a little bit more pressure on them,” Judge said.