Just when it looked like the New York Yankees were on the rise again after snapping a four-game skid with a brilliant 14-4 win on Saturday against the Boston Red Sox at home, they got humbled right after that as they absorbed a 3-0 loss at the hands of their biggest rivals Sunday night.
The Yankees' loss in the series finale can be summed up in two words: Rafael Devers. The Red Sox star third baseman went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and two runs driven in during Boston's win. He hit two home runs, one in the seventh and another in the ninth for insurance. Overall, all of the Red Sox's runs in that game came from solo home runs, which isn't good news for New York's collective fielding independent pitching stat.
During the postgame press conference, Yankees manager Aaron Boone was asked about his thoughts on his team having trouble suppressing Devers' powerful bat and whether New York could have done something different to silence three-time All-Star.
“We dig into that a lot believe me. But yeah, I mean sometimes that's time and place to in a season a guy comes in swinging well. He's a great player, Boone said (h/t Yankees Videos).
We see that sometimes on the other side. You know, with a couple of our guys. We invest a lot into where to get them most of the time, pitches he's hurting with us.”
Aaron Boone says the Yankees have "invested a lot" looking into how to get Rafael Devers out: "He's a great player...we'd like to do a better job against him"
There was also a question in the presser about whether Boone and the Yankees thought about just walking Devers, but Boone shot that idea down.
Boone, however, admitted that New York talked about replacing Luis Gil in the seventh inning with Luke Weaver, which the Yankees eventually did and paid the price for it almost immediately as Ceddanne Rafaela hit a homer off of the right-handed reliever.
The Yankees also could have just provided Gil and their pitchers in that game with a robust run supply. Instead, Aaron Judge and company failed to recreate the magic they had at the plate during the second leg of the series. Ben Rice and Juan Soto combined for 1-for-8 with two strikeouts and zero walks as the top two players atop the order. Judge went hitless in four at-bats. As a team, the Yankees were 0-for-4 when there was at least a runner on base.
Now 55-37 after losing 10 of their last 13 games, the Yankees will look to turn things around again when they start a three-game series down south against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this Tuesday.
Fans react to Aaron Boone's Rafael Devers talk after Yankees loss
“Just walk the guy, said ” X (the social media platform formerly known as Twitter) user said.
“It’s not rocket science… WALK HIM. Get fired you clown,” commented @joestheticss.
“Simple Boone just simple Boone.
“Devers has been owning us for the past 3-4 years let’s just say, and you can’t figure out a way to get him out? What a joke 😂,” stated @PG_Vlogs245.
From @pt5PastLightspd: “Up and in. If he walks, he walks, but it’s going to be an uncomfortable at-bat. Mix in the odd hip-high/mid-thigh heater, 4in or so off the plate, in. He’ll move, or he’ll get hit; if he does get hit, at least his jog will end at 1B. Anything else you guys need help with?”
