Aaron Judge's late homer forces extras but Yankees fall to Red Sox, 2-1, in 10 innings

The Yankees offense could not figure out Garrett Crochet for eight innings, but Aaron Judge’s ninth-inning homer forced extras before the Red Sox walked it off in the 10th, 2-1, on Friday night in Boston.

The Yankees were 1-for-4 with runners in scoring position and left four runners on base. The top four hitters in the lineup went a combined 0-for-14. before Judge’s blast. The slugger finished 1-for-4 and struck out three times. His average has dropped to .390 on the season.

Here are the takeaways…

-The Yankees put up five runs on Crochet last weekend, but it was a different story on Friday night. Crochet got through four innings, throwing just 45 pitches while allowing one hit and one walk. He continued to cruise until the fifth. After a throwing error allowed Jasson Dominguez to reach safely, and after stealing second, a DJ LeMahieu single put runners on the corners with no outs. Austin Wells and Oswald Peraza struck out before Paul Goldschmidt grounded out to end the threat.

The Yankees would not come close to a threat again against Crochet until the ninth. With one out and Crochet still on the mound, the southpaw faced Judge for the fourth time in this game after striking out the slugger three times already. Judge fought off a pair of 100-mph fastballs but on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, Judge obliterated a 99.6 mph fastball the opposite way 443 feet over the Green Monster and onto Lansdowne Street to tie the game at 1-1.

The Red Sox lefty was pulled after giving up the homer, throwing 107 pitches (72 strikes) across 8.1 innings, allowing the one run on four hits and one walk while striking out seven batters.

-With the help of Judge’s homer, the Yankees forced extras but did not do themselves any favors in the 10th. Anthony Volpe attempted to steal third as the ghost runner but was ruled out on an overturned call. LeMahieu seemingly got a two-out hit down the right-field line but it was ruled foul on the field and after a challenge, the call stood. That forced Aaron Boone to be ejected and even LeMahieu, after grounding out to end the 10th, received his first career ejection after saying something to the first base umpire.

-In the bottom half of the inning, the Red Sox moved the ghost runner to third on a ground out. And after Rafael Devers was intentionally walked, Tim Hill got Marcelo Mayer to strike out before Carlos Narvaez hit a single off the Green Monster to end the game.

– Ryan Yarbrough was better than the last time he faced the Red Sox. However, he pitched into and out of trouble early on. He stranded a pair of walks in the first, but couldn’t prevent a run from scoring in the second after a Cedanne Rafaela single drove in Trevor Story from second. But after that, the southpaw settled down and matched Crochet’s zeros. But that changed in the fifth. After allowing the two batters to reach on a walk and single with one out, Yarbrough struck out Devers before Boone pulled his starter for Jonathan Loaisiga.

Loaisiga struck out Romy Gonzalez to end the threat and put an end to Yarbrough’s night.

Yarbrough threw 78 pitches (45 strikes) across 4.2 innings, allowing one run on four hits and three walks while striking out three batters.

-In relief of Yarbrough, the Yankees bullpen did a great job. The combination of Loaisiga, Ian Hamilton kept the Red Sox off the board until the eighth when Hamilton allowed a one-out single. Fernando Cruz was called upon to finish the ining, but after striking out Marcelo Mayer, he walked Carlos Narvaez and Roman Anthony to load the bases with two outs. But he got Trevor Story to fly out to end the threat.

The bullpen gave the team a chance but couldn’t keep Boston off the board forever.

-The Yankees had just four hits, two coming from Volpe while Judge and LeMahieu rounded out the evening’s offense.

Game MVP: Carlos Narvaez

Crochet made the Yankees offense look overmatched until the Judge homer, but if it wasn’t for Narvaez’s walk-off, it could have been a tough loss for Boston.

Highlights

What’s next

The Yankees and Red Sox continue their series on Saturday evening. First pitch is set for 7:15 p.m.

Carlos Rodon (8-4, 2.87 ERA) will look to bounce back against Hunter Dobbins (3-1, 4.20 ERA).

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