MLB

by Greg Joyce

June 18, 2023 | 4:38 p.m

BOSTON – The Yankees might have done better if the rain had continued.

After losing Saturday in the aftermath of Stinky Friday, the Yankees didn’t turn their fortunes around on Sunday afternoon, falling in the first game of a doubleheader, 6-2, to the Red Sox at Fenway Park.

After taking a 2-0 lead in the fifth inning, things fell apart quickly for the Yankees, as the Red Sox reached for Clark Schmidt for a double before the usually dependable Michael King blew the tying game in the sixth inning.

Meanwhile, the Yankees offense continued to struggle without Aaron Judge, amassing only four hits against the Red Sox (36-35), who spurred through a bullpen.

This resulted in the Yankees losing (39-32) for the seventh time in the last 10 games he entered Sunday night.

After coming on to Schmidt to score the final out of the fifth inning, King got two quick runs in the sixth before the Red Sox got him on four straight hits, putting the Green Beast up 5–2.

Enrique Hernandez started it up with a single to first base before Connor Wong hit a monster double out of the reach of jumping Jake Powers.

Hernandez scored all of the inning from the start, though the potential close play at the plate was decimated when Anthony Rizzo snapped the relay throw.

Alex Verdugo then followed with another double on the Beast before Justin Turner hooked a single to left center to make it 5-2.

After giving up just six runs in his first 32 innings (19 games) this season, King has been rated for six runs over his last 5 innings (four games).

The Yankees never threatened to come back because their biggest bat remained silent.

Gleyber Torres got the Yankees off to a good start by tying a two-run homer to the Green Monster bench in the top of the first inning.

His 12th home run of the season, and the third in his last eight games, came after Powers led off the game with a ground-base double against opener Caleb Ort.

But after Torres exploded, the Yankees did not score another hit until Powers led in the sixth inning with another double against left-hander Chris Murphy, knocking him out of the game.

Powers was stranded at second, although Yankees upsets (Giancarlo Stanton, Torres and Rizzo) couldn’t push it against Nick Pivita.