The Yankees had this one sitting right there, then kicked it around Fenway like nobody wanted to take it home.
Yankees Let One Get Ugly In Boston
The Yankees lost 6-3 to the Red Sox, and honestly, this was one of those games where the box score starts arguing with itself.
Cam Schlittler gave them 5 innings, struck out 9, allowed 0 earned runs, and somehow walked away with the loss. That tells you almost everything you need to know. The kid was not perfect, but he was good enough to win. The defense behind him was not.
Four errors. Four. At Fenway Park, against Boston, in a game where you had an early lead. That is how you turn a road win into a headache.
Paul Goldschmidt opened the game with a double, Amed Rosario followed with a single, and Jasson Domínguez brought Goldschmidt home with an RBI single. That gave the Yankees a quick 1-0 lead and made it feel like they were ready to jump on Connelly Early before he settled in.
But that was the problem. They did not finish the inning. Cody Bellinger struck out. Anthony Volpe struck out. A chance to make Boston chase the game turned into just one run.
Then José Caballero gave them another spark in the 4th, blasting a solo homer to left-center. Yankees up 2-0. Schlittler dealing. Fenway quiet.
Then came the 5th inning, and the Yankees started handing out gifts like it was Christmas in June.
The 5th Inning Changed Everything
Boston scored 4 runs in the 5th, and not one of them was earned. That is the part that makes this loss so annoying. Masataka Yoshida walked, Ceddanne Rafaela singled, and then the inning got messy.
William Contreras reached on an error by Rosario, Yoshida scored, Jarren Duran added a sacrifice fly, and then Caleb Durbin punched the Yankees in the mouth with a 2-run homer over the Green Monster.
Just like that, 2-0 Yankees became 4-2 Boston.
Schlittler’s ERA actually dropped to 1.62 after the game. Think about that. He lost a game where his ERA went down. That is baseball being stupid, but also the Yankees being sloppy.
The Offense Had Chances And Did Not Cash In
The Yankees made it 4-3 in the 7th when Jazz Chisholm Jr. walked, stole third, and scored on a Goldschmidt groundout. That was a good baseball run. Speed, pressure, contact. Simple.
But the big hit never came. Ben Rice went 0-for-5 and left 7 runners on base. That is a rough night no matter how hot you have been. The 9th inning gave them one more shot against Aroldis Chapman, with Volpe walking, Caballero singling, and Goldschmidt reaching on an infield single.
Bases loaded. Two outs. Rice at the plate.
Groundout. Ballgame.
This One Was There
The Yankees did not get beat because Boston looked unbeatable. They got beat because they gave the Red Sox extra outs, extra bases, and extra life.
That is what makes this loss sting. Schlittler struck out 9. Caballero homered. Goldschmidt had 2 hits and drove in a run. Domínguez got them started.
And it still turned into a 6-3 loss because the Yankees played a dirty game in the field.
You can survive a quiet bat here and there. You can survive Fenway weirdness. You cannot survive 4 errors and wasted chances against your rival.
That is how a winnable game becomes another annoying night in Boston.
Born in Manhattan, New York, Felix Pantaleon is a Dominican-American digital content creator and the founder of NYYNEWS, one of the first and longest-running independent New York Yankees content creator platforms, active since 2005.
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