About Last Night: Red Sox 10, Yanks 7

By Andy Singer

June 8th, 2025

The Big Story

Last night was a tit-for-tat slugfest that felt more like a boxing match than a baseball game. When two fighters engage in a slugfest as opposed to a tactical game of strategy, you know that the fight will end in a knockout blow. This game didn't disappoint in that regard, as the teams traded shots right up until the end, when the Red Sox tacked on two final runs in the ninth inning after the Yanks had crawled to within one in the bottom half of the eighth.

Unfortunately, the specifics make the game even a bit more frustrating. Garrett Crochet is one of the most dominant pitchers in the sport, and certainly in the running for the best left-handed starters in baseball. When you score 5 runs against a guy like that, you've done your job as an offense, and you should win that game. The Yankee offense accomplished that feat last night, but Ryan Yarbrough's early season magic ran out in spectacular fashion.

You could tell Yarbrough was just trying to hold it together early on without his best stuff, but he just couldn't hold it together for long. The worst of it was a 5-run 3rd inning that included a little bit of everything: a lead-off Hit-By-Pitch, gobs of hard contact, poor baserunning, and a defensive miscue. Much was made by some media after the game about Oswald Peraza's failed attempt to nab the lead runner at 3B on a groundball to SS that loaded the bases, but the reality is that the out really only amounted to a 1-run difference in the inning. A bad play? Certainly, but Yarbrough was pitching poorly enough that Peraza's miscue wasn't really a factor. The cherry on top was a two-run homer in Yarbrough's last inning, the 4th, off of a sweeper that just sat beautifully over the heart of the plate.

Though Yarbrough was awful, the offense really doesn't deserve any blame. Crotchet creates uncomfortable at-bats with great stuff, good command, and a deceiving delivery, but the Yankees found ways to get to him. Austin Wells ambushed a first-pitch cutter just over the right field wall for a 3-run homer to give the Yanks a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the 2nd inning. I couldn't imagine that Wells' homer would be a home run in any park, but Yankee Stadium...but of course, Statcast informs me that it also would leave the yard at George M. Steinbrenner Field, temporary home of the Tampa Bay Rays.

As the Red Sox took a significant lead, the offense didn't wilt; it just kept chipping away at Crotchet, moving runners with timely hits, eventually tacking on 2 more runs in the bottom of the 4th inning on the back of a double by Austin Wells and an RBI groundout by Pablo Reyes.

The Yankee bullpen was impressive last night, as Yerry De Los Santos threw 3 shutout innings in relief of Ryan Yarbrough, and Mark Leiter Jr. tacked on 1 scoreless inning of his own to keep the Yankees in the game. Ian Hamilton had nothing last night and gave up the death blows in the top of the 9th inning, but De Los Santos and Leiter were fantastic.

The bottom of the eighth inning featured the Yankees' last gasp. Former Yankee reliever, Justin Wilson, couldn't find the plate with a seeing eye dog at the beginning of his outing, and the Yankees took advantage. Rice led off with a walk, moving up on a passed ball and a flyout by Judge. Bellinger walked and stole second, and with two outs, LeMahieu stung a screaming groundball up the middle to score two and bring the Yanks back to within 1 run. Alas, it wasn't meant to be, but the offense showed plenty of life.

Player of the Game

Yerry De Los Santos kept the team in the game when it really didn't seem possible. He threw 3 shutout innings with 2 K's, and was efficient.

Notable Performances

Bellinger: 2-3, 1 BB, 3 R

Wells: 2-4, 1 HR, 1 2B, 4 RBI

DJLM: 2-3, 1 BB, 2 R, 1 RBI

Leiter Jr.: 1 IP, 3 K

Better to Forget

Judge: 0-4, 3 K (not entirely his fault, but he swung through a handful of middle-middle fastballs)

Goldschmidt: 0-5, 3 K (his worst performance against lefty pitching this season)

Dominguez: 0-4, 3 K (he looked completely lost batting right-handed)

Yarbrough: 4 IP, 9 H, 2 BB, 3 K, 8 ER

My Take

This game was brutal. The offense did their job, and Yarbrough just didn't have it. Yarbrough never should have been left out there last night, but with Yarbrough in the rotation, the Yankees don't have a traditional long reliever out in the bullpen to soak up innings. Yarbrough was left out there to be the sacrificial lamb.

While the Yankees didn't lose for this reason, the umpiring at home plate was incredibly frustrating. Garrett Crochet didn't need any help, yet he got 8 (!) strikes called on pitches off the plate to the catcher's right side last night. The Yankees only got 2 such calls in their favor. I can tell you that Judge got burned multiple times on balls he took that were clearly 3+ inches off the plate away. Hitting Coach, James Rowson, got tossed for arguing balls and strikes last night, and I don't disagree with the sentiment.

I am thrilled that the Yankees showed such resiliency last night, but when you score 5 runs against a pitcher as good as Crochet, you should win that ballgame. That was a tough loss.

Looking to Tonight

Carlos Rodon will attempt to win the rubber match tonight at Yankee Stadium, facing off with Hunter Dobbins. We're playing follow the bouncing networks, as tonight's game is the ESPN Sunday Night game, giving the Yanks 3 straight nights of playing on different TV Networks. The game starts at 7:10.