This was going to be the one feather in the cap of the 2020 Red Sox.
Martin Perez had shown there was some hope with the team’s starting staff heading into the 2021 season, dominating the Yankees over six innings. The lefty not only held the visitors to no runs on three hits, but struck out seven, six of which went down looking.
The Sox’ second base conundrum also was seemingly in the process of being solved thanks to the continued emergence of Christian Arroyo, who not only launched a three-run homer (his third home run in the last week), but stood out with is work in the field. There were also the good vibes given when watching the somewhat diminutive infielder get rolled through the dugout in a laundry cart by his teammates after he had put his team up by three runs with the blast.
But, nope.
By the time Ron Roenicke conducted is postgame Zoom call with the media just before 1 a.m. the sad trombone was still playing.
The Yankees had not only won their ninth in a row courtesy a 12-inning, 6-5 victory Friday night at Fenway Park, but they also extended their mind-boggling win streak over the Red Sox to 11 games.
As bad as the optics have looked for the Red Sox this season, this was has to be the worst look of all.
Just 10 days before, we had written a piece called, “Good news Red Sox fans: The Yankees stink all of a sudden”. New York had lost five straight and were dangerously close to falling out of the postseason picture. Well, we’re glad we could inspire them.
Now the Yankees are the team we though they would be, currently living such existence Friday night with their regular lineup for the first time since the second game of the season. New York now owns the best record of the Wild Card teams, passing Minnesota by a game. They are rolling, and the Red Sox are not.
All of those good vibes induced by Perez and Arroyo went out the window by the time midnight rolled around, with closer Matt Barnes giving up a game-tying, two-out solo homer to Gary Sanchez in the ninth inning before the Yankees ultimately bested the Red Sox in the 12th. (Barnes bizarrely has a 17.18 ERA against the Yankees since helping close out the 2018 American League Division Series in Yankee Stadium, allowing 15 runs in his eight appearances.)
Oh yeah, and J.D. Martinez went to bed sitting under the Mendoza Line (.199), going 0-for-6 with four strikeouts.
And to add injury to insult, one of the few bright spots for this year’s Red Sox team Alex Verdugo was forced from the game with a tight hamstring.
“It was definitely one of them,” said Roenicke when asked if this might have been the most frustrating losses of his team’s 33 defeats.
At this point, the downturns are too many to count. Now the Yankees are just piling on.