Yankees manager Aaron Boone stated the obvious after his side let a two-run lead slip away in a 5-4 loss in 10 innings on Sunday as the Boston Red Sox completed a four-game sweep at Fenway Park.
“Obviously, a terrible weekend for us,” Boone said after losing an eighth game in the last 11.
“It’s one of those crap moments of the season, crap times of the season, where you have a really rough weekend against a division rival,” the skipper said later. “But you gotta get over it quickly, and understand we got a homestand starting tomorrow. Pick ourselves up.”
How does the manager not let the rough weekend keep snowballing?
“That’s what we do, baby,” Boone answered with a wry smile.
“You gotta love this stuff. You gotta eat this stuff up. It’s a sickness. That’s what the grind is,” he continued. “We got a really good freakin team. We played crappy on this trip, kinda. Feels bad. Kinda pisseed off, right? But it’s what we do.
“It’s what you signed up for. We’ll dig ourselves out of it and get it going here in short order.”
The game slipped away in the 10th when Fernando Cruz, who had been masterful with his splitter, was only able to retire one of the four batters he faced in the three-run inning as the splitter stayed up in the zone.
“Cruzer had a tough one, left some pitches up for ‘em,” Boone said, adding he didn’t think there were any issues for the reliever other than locating his best pitch. “Credit to them, couple good swings against him. Obviously, trust Cruzer there in that situation all the time.
“They got to him today, and that’s part of it.”
“Not being able to pick up my guys is most impacting me,” Cruz said after the loss. “The best teams go through stretches like this, and champions and great teams in history go through stretches like this, and especially games like this. For me, it’s a formation. It’s something that is forming me into a better athlete and a better pitcher, and I’m gonna be better next time.”
But the reliever’s extra-inning wobble was hardly the lone issue. After being held hitless through the first 7.1 innings against Sonny Gray on Sunday, that meant the last three Red Sox starters combined for 17.1 innings before allowing a hit, following good outings from Payton Tolle on Friday and Jake Bennett on Saturday.
“I think, overall, not swinging the bats great this weekend,” the skipper said. “I felt like we got some pitches to hit, some in the center of the plate where [Gray] was coming after us. And maybe just missed a couple of ’em or just didn’t put ’em in play with enough authority.”
The positives came in not going down meekly. Against Aroldis Chapman in the ninth, the Yankees rallied for two runs to tie the score and two more in the 10th to grab a lead against Justin Slaten.
“Love the fight, the comeback there, pressure them in the ninth and the 10th,” Boone said, adding that, “We did a good job of pitching for the most part today.”
And that was another positive. Starter Carlos Rodon was sharp early and gutted through five innings before Paul Blackburn and David Bednar put up zeros, meaning through nine innings the Yankee arms had not been charged with an earned run.
But that is where silver linings only go so far when the sky is full of clouds over Beantown: The Yanks did not get enough hits – just nine total over the final three games – or timely ones – 1-for-13 with RISP – and gave away outs and runs – committing five errors over in the first and final game, accounting for seven unearned runs.
“The bottom line is, we gotta get it going offensively, and when we’re not scoring, we just didn’t play clean enough here,” Boone said.
Rodon, who surrendered two unearned runs on one hit and four walks with six strikeouts, said it simply: “Winning cures everything, so that’s the goal.”
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