The Boston Red Sox walked into their biggest series with a chance to shift the American League race. By the time they left Yankee Stadium on Sunday, the picture had changed in a hurry.
Boston was blanked 6-0 by the New York Yankees in the finale, wrapping up a weekend that saw the Red Sox drop three of four. The loss pushed Boston to 74-63, four games back of New York, which improved to 78-59 and held onto the AL’s top wild-card spot. The Yankees also took the season series, which gives them the tiebreaker if the two clubs finish level.
The Red Sox at least had some lineup help on Sunday. Roman Anthony and Trevor Story both returned from long injury absences, with Anthony jumping right into the leadoff spot and Story starting at shortstop and batting eighth. But the return of two key bats didn’t change the outcome.
Boston finished with just four hits and never scored against Will Warren and the Yankees bullpen. It was the third time in five games the Red Sox were shut out, a stretch that has turned their offense into the biggest concern on the roster. After opening the road trip with back-to-back wins over the Miami Marlins, Boston was shut out 4-0 in the series finale there, then lost 1-0 Friday in New York before Sunday’s scoreless afternoon.
The only win in the four-game set came Saturday, when Wilyer Abreu homered and Jake Bennett threw six scoreless innings in a 6-0 victory. Even then, most of Boston’s offense came late, with four runs in the ninth after the game had already been decided. Across the four games against New York, the Red Sox scored only eight runs and were outscored 26-3 in their three losses.
Sunday unraveled in one bad inning for Ranger Suárez. He held New York scoreless through four, but the Yankees broke through for five runs in the fifth.
Paul Goldschmidt opened the scoring with a two-run single, then Heliot Ramos delivered the knockout punch with a three-run homer. Austin Wells added a sacrifice fly in the sixth against Greg Weissert to finish the scoring.
Suárez took the loss after allowing five earned runs over 5 1/3 innings. That fifth inning erased what had been a competitive outing and left Boston digging out of another deep hole, less than a day after its pitching staff gave up nine runs in Game 2 of Saturday’s doubleheader. The Red Sox allowed 15 runs over their final 17 defensive innings of the series.
The standings damage was just as clear. Boston came into New York three games behind the Yankees and briefly pulled within two after winning the first half of Saturday’s doubleheader.
By Sunday night, that gap had grown back to four. The Red Sox remain well behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East, and the wild-card race now looks a lot less forgiving.
That’s the hard reality after a weekend like this. Boston had a real chance to change the conversation, but with the schedule tightening and the offense cooling off, the margin for error is shrinking fast. The club surged into the picture with a remarkable 32-5 run earlier this summer, but that momentum has clearly faded.
Now the Red Sox head back to Fenway Park and try to reset quickly. They open a three-game series against the Seattle Mariners on Monday, with first pitch set for 6:45 p.m.
ET. Anthony and Story should make the lineup deeper once they get back into the flow, but Boston needs much more than reinforcements.
It needs runs.
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