The Yankees have been forced to endure multiple crushing losses, from surrendering a game-tying grand slam to the Angels in the ninth to a six-run ninth by the Astros to ruin a sweep opportunity just before the All-Star break.
But after entering the ninth with a 3-1 lead against the Red Sox on Thursday night, with a chance to win the team’s fifth in a row and gain a crucial game in the AL East standings, the Yankees might have a new worst loss of the season after a game-tying double with two outs sent Thursday’s game into extra innings, where the Yanks lost in the 10th after four wild pitches from Brooks Kriske.
“Another gut punch,” Aaron Boone said. “A lot of good things that went on tonight, an out away there, and they put together some really good at-bats in the ninth. Certainly stings in a long night here when it looks like you’re gonna get out of here with the first game of this series, but we also gotta get over this. We’ve got a big weekend ahead of us.”
A win on Thursday would have been a golden opportunity to begin a crucial road trip on the right foot, but instead, this potentially make-or-break stretch of the schedule, which continues with the Rays after three more in Boston, began with a crippling defeat.
“Still pretty sick to my stomach right now,” Jordan Montgomery said. “It’s just a tough one. We felt like we had a good chance to win and just kind of lost it.”
The Yanks were able to rebound and take the lead back in the 10th, but Kriske had no command in the bottom half of the inning, as the Yankees blew another late lead and dropped to eight games back in the AL East, where a win would have been the team’s third in a row over Boston. Instead, the crucial road trip begins with what might be the worst loss of the year in a season filled with worthy candidates.
“It’s not fun,” Kriske said. “There’s a lot of guys battling their butts out, and it sucks to be the one to blow it for the team.”
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