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Jorge Castillo
NEW YORK — The Yankees’ troublesome struggles against the Red Sox this season continued Saturday in an ugly 12-1 loss at Yankee Stadium that began with Cy Young candidate Garrett Crochet shutting them down over seven innings and ended with them hearing boos from the home crowd during a disastrous seven-run ninth inning.
It was the Yankees’ eighth straight defeat at the hands of their rivals this season. Overall, the Yankees are 1-8 against Boston this season. Add their 3-7 record against the first-place Toronto Blue Jays and the Yankees are 4-15 against the top two teams in the American League East.
“It’s not ideal,” Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton said. “It’s unacceptable. We all know that.”
The Yankees returned to the Bronx for this four-game series on a five-game winning streak, having won seven of their previous eight games against the Minnesota Twins, St. Louis Cardinals and Tampa Bay Rays, a trio of foes that won’t partake in October baseball this season. They had an opportunity to build on their 1½-game lead on Boston for the top AL Wild Card Series spot. Instead, they’ll enter Sunday 1½ games behind the Red Sox, looking to avoid a four-game series sweep.
“We’re definitely — I can only speak for myself — [I’m] definitely angry,” said Yankees star Aaron Judge, who remains limited to designated hitter because of an elbow injury. “Especially against your rivals, don’t like the showing we’ve had here at home. So, just got to step up. That’s it. Got to step up.
“Everyone in this room’s got to play a little bit better. Pick it up a notch and go out there and take care of business tomorrow. There’s nothing we can do about the past 100-something games we played. We got to focus on what we can do now and that’s all you can do.”
New York’s problems this weekend begin with the offense. The Yankees have scored just five runs in the three games, a meager display after blasting a record 14 home runs in their two-game series sweep of the Rays.
On Friday, Red Sox right-hander Brayan Bello held them without a run over seven innings before Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman — one of the best one-two bullpen punches in the majors — shut the door on a 1-0 victory. Crochet came close to duplicating Bello’s output on Saturday, allowing just a solo home run to Stanton with 11 strikeouts. He exited with a 2.38 ERA and 207 strikeouts in 26 starts this season, continuing his push to challenge Tarik Skubal for the AL Cy Young Award.
“We got to play better,” Judge said. “That’s what it comes down to. Coaches can’t fix that. Fans can’t fix that. Media can’t fix that. It’s the players in this room. We got to step up and that’s what it comes down to.”
On the other side, Will Warren, struggling to command his off-speed offerings, relied on his fastball. The Red Sox noticed and pounced, chasing the rookie after he surrendered five runs on seven hits over four-plus innings. The Yankees remained within striking distance, down 5-1, and stitched together their best threat in the eighth inning, but Stanton and Jazz Chisholm Jr. struck out to end the frame with runners on the corners.
“We’re not taking advantage when we got guys on base and can’t get some momentum,” Stanton said. “And putting the ball in play in general. [We’re not] playing crisp baseball.”
Any chance of a comeback was crushed when the Red Sox tallied seven runs off right-hander Paul Blackburn, who had thrown 2⅓ scoreless innings to begin his first outing in pinstripes. The outburst was aided by a throwing error from Anthony Volpe, who is 1-for-29 at the plate over his past eight games, and miscommunication that led to Blackburn balking in a run.
Blackburn, acquired on Thursday, was left in the game to wear it. He finally secured the third out on his 71st pitch, drawing sarcastic cheers from the Yankees fans who remained for the rout and another loss to the Red Sox.
“Sucks,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Feels really crappy. We got to get past it. I mean, we can sit here and dwell on it. We got to play better. We got to play better against these quality opponents in our division. But we can’t go erase what’s been a really crappy weekend so far for us other than putting our best foot forward tomorrow.”