A LITTLE HELP HERE
Sputtering Yankees offense gives rookie Adams no Chance against Sox
BOSTON — By the time the Yankees made noise in the ninth inning, they were an out away from falling further from first place than they had been all season.
And while they made it interesting by scoring a run on consecutive doubles and two walks against Craig Kimbrel with two outs, the game ended on a stressfree fly ball off Greg Bird’s bat that nestled in center fielder Jackie Bradley’s glove to seal a 4-1 Yankees loss. The sold-out Fenway Park crowd of 36,699 sat for a sec- ond consecutive sub-three-hour game (2:33), a rarity in this rivalry.
The Yankees’ fourth straight loss — their longest losing streak of the season — dropped them 8 ½ lengths back of the rampaging Red Sox in the AL East. And while there aren’t signs of panic coming from Aaron Boone and his players, they don’t have their heads buried in the sand.
“It’s reality. You got to understand,” Giancarlo Stanton said of the largest deficit of the year. “But try to keep it simple. We lost today. We have to win tomorrow. We know what the deficit is.”
They also know their bats have been dominated in the past two games. On Friday night, it was Rick Porcello allowing one run and one hit in a complete-game gem. He didn’t face a Yankees hitter with a runner in scoring position. On Saturday, it was former teammate Nathan Eovaldi providing eight shutout innings. Until Alex Cora called for Kimbrel, the Red Sox manager might as well have sent the relievers to Mar- tha’s Vineyard for all they were needed in the past two games.
Eovaldi was threatened in the seventh, when Stanton opened with a double into the left-field corner, but he never strayed off second base.
The Dead Bat Society didn’t help Chance Adams in his major league debut, in which he allowed three runs on three hits in five innings.
“[Mitch] Moreland hit a cutter that leaked, and J.D. [Martinez], I thought I made a good pitch, but he just ripped it,” Adams said of the two homers he gave up in the first and fourth innings, respectively.
When Boone sent the 23-yearold Adams to the mound, he would have signed up for what he got.
“Take three runs through five the first time out against that lineup, we will take that,” Boone said. “We didn’t support him with enough offense.”
While Boone credited Porcello and Eovaldi for pitching well and is operating without Gary Sanchez and Aaron Judge, two big cogs in the Yankees’ lineup, the manager admitted the names he is writing onto the lineup card need to pick it up.
“We have to do a better job,” Boone said.
The challenge doesn’t get easier Sunday night, when the Red Sox send David Price to the mound. Though with a 15-13 ledger and a 4.90 career ERA against the Yankees in 40 games (39 starts), Price hasn’t been unhittable. On July 1 at Yankee Stadium, he got pounded for eight runs and nine hits in 3 ¹/3 innings. On April 11 in New England’s living room, Price lasted an inning and gave up four runs and three hits. Still, he is 11-6 with a 3.97 ERA in 21 starts this year.
“Really, really important, super important,” Boone said when asked the significance of Sunday night’s game is for his staggering club.
“But I am a broken record. Tomorrow is always important. We are wearing it right now from the Red Sox. We are in a tough spot, but tomorrow is really important. This is the big leagues. We are a really good team. If we had won five in a row, tomorrow is really important.’’
If Boone’s club had won five straight, it wouldn’t be 8 ½ out in a race that is showing strong signs of already being over.