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Series Recap: Yankees fumble through ‘Patriot Games’ against Red Sox

It was a brutal series as the New York Yankees found themselves behind the eight-ball for the majority of the weekend against the Boston Red Sox. As NFL training camps were opening, the Red Sox were throwing up some New England Patriots’ scores against Yankee starting pitchers. Although they dropped three of four, thankfully the Bronx Bombers righted the ship Sunday night and escaped Boston with a 10-game lead in the loss column.

GAME 1

The trend of terrible Yankee starting pitching carried its way to the Hub. It’s gotten so bad that even the crowded bullpen of mop-up guys are overtaxed, and Aaron Boone resorted to finishing out the 19-3 loss with catcher Austin Romine on the bump.

TANAKA TIME ON LONDON TIME

When we last saw Masahiro Tanaka and Rick Porcello lock horns, neither one escaped the first inning in London. While Porcello would certainly labor through his six innings of three-run ball, including surrendering a solo homer to Kyle Higashioka in the fifth, Tanaka wasn’t even competitive.

Tanaka was rocked for seven runs in the first frame. The big blows came by way of a three-run homer to left by Xander Bogaerts and a pair of two-run doubles by Jackie Bradley Jr. and Mookie Betts.

Five months to Christmas day, Tanaka was lit up like a tree at Faneuil Hall, allowing 12 runs total.

The Red Sox also rolled up Stephen Tarpley for a quartet of runs and socked two home runs off Romine to cap off their offensive output.

GAME 2

It was another uninspiring outing by a Yankee starting pitcher, resulting in a 10-5 loss which wasn’t even that close.

MAPLE SAPPED

I haven’t seen a Maple get rocked like that in Boston since the Leafs choked in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. To be fair, James Paxton had a great walk to strikeout ratio, fanning nine and walking zero. Of course, then there’s the whole matter of surrendering four bombs in four frames, including three to Betts. Paxton yielded seven runs but he has great stuff or something. Brutal.

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CAN’T CASH IN

I know Andrew Cashner wasn’t wearing a stupid cartoon Oriole bird on his hat, but the Yankee lineup seemed to forget that he used to pitch for them and isn’t that great. While managing 10 hits, the Yankees only scratched out a meager three runs in 6.2 frames against Cashner, including a Luke Voit RBI-single in the sixth, a Romine RBI-single in the seventh and a run on a double-play ball by LeMahieu.

A Romine RBI-double off Heath Hembree and a sac fly by Didi Gregorius off Brandon Workman in the ninth would account for the other Yankee runs.

GAME 3

The offense gained the lead for a hot minute; CC Sabathia didn’t give up a touchdown, but couldn’t play the role of stopper. It was another ugly 9-5 loss.

GIO SOLO

During the second stanza, Urshela provided the Bronx Bombers with a 1-0 lead by smacking a solo bomb to center off Eduardo Rodriguez.  This was the beginning of a four-hit afternoon for Urshela, who gave New York the lead again with an RBI-single in the fourth.

CHEAPO DEEPO

I don’t need to hear anything from Red Sox fans about the short porch at Yankee Stadium after Andrew Benintendi’s Pesky Pole solo shot tied it at one in the second.

DEEP AND NOT CHEAP

A deep and not cheap, but rather costly, two-run tater by J.D. Martinez to left in the fourth gave Boston a 3-2 edge.

The Red Sox doubled their lead on an RBI-single by Michael Chavis.

Despite an RBI-double by Edwin Encarnacion in the fifth, Bogaerts quickly got the run back with an RBI-double of his own in the home half against Sabathia.

Chad Green would get racked for four runs and the game was basically out of reach at 9-3.

HIGGY STILL BATTLES

Higashioka kept battling late, and on a 12-pitch at-bat against Nathan Eovaldi, notched a two-run single to left in the eighth.

GAME 4

The Yankees were able to stave off a sweep, throttling Chris Sale and taking advantage of shoddy Red Sox defense. Domingo German and the rest of the bullpen were good enough in a 9-6 victory.

AUSTIN MASSACHUSETTS

Romine put the Bronx Bombers on the board in the third with a two-run tater to left.

SUNDAY KNIGHT BASEBALL

Stepping up an inning later was Gregorius. The Yankee shortstop delivered with a two-run tater of his own to right, doubling the New York edge to 4-0.

STAYING RELENTLESS

Urshela kept up his stellar weekend with an RBI-double in the sixth.

That was followed by an RBI-single off the glove of Bogaerts by Maybin.

DOMINGO NOCHE BEISBOL

German was dealing early, especially with his curveball. The young righty fanned nine on the night. Across 5.1 frames, German yielded three runs on four hits and one walk, the big blow being a two-run bash to right by Benintendi in the fourth.

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NOBODY HOME

With the bases loaded in the seventh and facing Darwinzon Hernandez, Gregorius lifted a fly ball to Bradley Jr. in center. In an attempt to double up Voit at first, Bradley Jr. threw to an unoccupied base, which allowed two runs to score and Voit to move to third.

New York would cap off its scoring when Maybin scored on a wild pitch by Marcus Walden in the eighth.

ON DECK

At 67-38, the Yankees return to Yankee Stadium to host the Arizona Diamondbacks for a two-game set starting Tuesday evening.

Pitching probables: Taylor Clarke vs. J.A. Happ, Zack Greinke vs. Masahiro Tanaka.