About Last Night: The Yankees Topped the Red Sox 4-1

About Last Night: The Yankees Topped the Red Sox 4-1

By Tim Kabel

September 13, 2025

***

The Yankees opened this crucial three-game series against the Red Sox with a convincing win. Although it was only their third win against the Red Sox in eleven tries this season, it was a very important victory. The Yankees now lead the Red Sox for the top wild card position by 1 1/2 games. They also have a record of 6-4 in this 12-game stretch against playoff teams. Even if the Yankees lose the next two games to the Red Sox, the worst record they can have during those 12 games is 6-6. Hopefully they don't do that. The Red Sox will be a very tough playoff opponent for the Yankees, and they cannot afford to play all three games at Fenway Park. Let's savor last night's win and look forward to the next two games.

Quick Stats – 

·       Luis Gil pitched six innings of no-hit ball with four strikeouts. Unfortunately, he also walked four batters, had two wild pitches and a balk. He really needs to master his control.

·       Aaron Judge passed Joe DiMaggio for sole possession of 4^th place on the Yankees’ career home run list with his 362^nd home run in the first inning.

·       Red Sox catcher, Carlos Narvaez has been called for catcher’s interference 6 times this season, which is the most in the Majors. In addition to that incident in the third inning, Aaron Boone thought that Narvaez committed another catcher's interference in the first inning, but the umpires ruled that Boone waited too long to ask for a review. Surprise, surprise, surprise.  

·       Judge’s home run traveled 468 feet, which is the longest home run at Fenway Park since Aaron Judge’s 470 foot home run last July. 

·       There has not been a no-hitter in the Major Leagues this season.

·       Judge hit his 19th first inning home run of the season, setting the Major League record.

·       Because the game was on Apple TV last night, I had to listen to it on the radio. I have listened to a few games on the radio this season. Dave Sims called most of them, but Ricky Ricardo did the others. I can't say that I'm a huge fan of Dave Sims and much like Lucille Ball, I prefer Ricky Ricardo. I find Sims’ call of “Hey Now!” to be somewhat contrived and gimmicky. Maybe I will get used to him.

·       On September 12^th, 1996, Bernie Williams had two home runs and a single, and drove in eight runs in the Yankees 12-3 win over the Tigers.

Big Story – 

The Yankees are a very hard team to figure out, particularly this season. They can be great, as they were for the most part last night or they can be awful as they were in the first two games against Detroit. Those two games marked the first time in Yankees’ history that they lost back-to-back games by 10 or more runs. 

Based on that and the overall streakiness of the team this season, there is no reasonable way to predict what they will do today and Sunday against the Red Sox. The Red Sox have handled the Yankees extremely well this season, winning 8 of 11 games. It's a good thing I am not a bettor, because I would have no idea how to wager on this team. The Yankees could win both of the next two games or they could lose in humiliating fashion. Perhaps the least likely scenario would be for them to split the two games. I suppose that's what makes it interesting and fun to watch, unless of course if you don't have Apple TV.

In honor of this being the last regular season series between the Yankees and Red Sox this year, here is a fun quote from Babe Ruth: “Sometimes when I reflect on all the beer I drink, I feel ashamed. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery and all of their hopes and dreams. If I didn't drink this beer, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered.”

Player of the Game – 

Aaron Judge moved into sole possession of 4^th place on the Yankees’ career home run list. 

Notable Performances – 

Despite his usual control issues, Luis Gil pitched an excellent game.

Ben Rice and Jazz Chisholm, Jr. each had two hits. Jazz added two stolen bases.

Better To Forget-

The unnamed genius who decided to put the game on Apple TV so very few fans could see it. I can just imagine that conversation: “Hey, I have a great idea. Why don't we take a crucial game at the end of the season against our perennial rival and put it on the most obscure streaming service there is so no one can watch it.”

My Take – 

The Yankees have 15 games left in their season. They are in second place in the American League East and trail the Blue Jays by three games. In the Wild Card race, the Yankees are 1 1/2 game ahead of the Red Sox for the top position. The stretch run will be very important as the Yankees are fighting to make the playoffs. If they can't win the division, at the very least, they want to be the top Wild Card team. That means all hands on deck. The Yankees need to field their best team every day down the stretch.

I'm really not sure what to make of the Anthony Volpe situation. He has not played in a few days and reportedly will not play this weekend in Boston. He has been struggling mightily this season and is currently batting .206. He leads the Major Leagues with 19 errors. Yet, prior to this week, you would have needed the jaws of life to remove him from the lineup. He was a fixture. Even on days when he did have the game off, he would somehow sneak in as a  defensive replacement or a pinch runner.

Now, we are being told that Volpe has a partially torn labrum. He received a cortisone shot for it the other day and also received a cortisone shot during the All-Star break. Here's the best part: he supposedly suffered this injury on May 3rd, diving for a ball when he heard a pop in his shoulder. This leads us to several questions.

Is this a legitimate injury, or is it just a way to remove Volpe from the lineup while allowing him to save face? I know that's bordering on conspiracy theory thinking but based on the way the Yankees handle things, it's a reasonable question. If it is an actual injury, why did no one ever hear about it before? Why did Aaron Boone not even mention it at any point between May 3rd and the beginning of September? Did he know about it? Again, that seems like a ridiculous question but remember, this is Aaron Boone.  Boone was blissfully unaware of the progress of Aaron Judge's throwing program. He made statements regarding Judge’s ability to throw which were almost immediately contradicted by Judge, who stated that Aaron Boone had not seen him throw in two weeks. It's obvious that Aaron Boone is out of touch. Is he so out of touch that he didn't know his shortstop was injured for four months? I would like to say that's impossible but again, we are talking about Aaron Boone.

Now, here is the part where it gets really interesting. Aaron Boone stated that the injury is not the reason for Volpe’s lackluster offense and defensive miscues. He was hitting slightly better before May 3rd but it is not a huge drop off. So, that is a problem. Because, if we could attribute Volpe's poor performance to an injury, there would be reason to be optimistic for the future. Since that does not appear to be the case, it would seem that there is little likelihood that he will improve even when he is fully healthy.

Perhaps the Yankees were just waiting until they had a viable option to replace Volpe in the lineup. That leads to another question. Why did the Yankees wait so long to acquire someone who could play shortstop? Technically, they have two now with Jose Caballero and Amed Rosario. Caballero seems to be the preferred option at this point.

 There are a lot of questions regarding Anthony Volpe and his reported injury. At this point, there are not many clear answers. Clear answers have never been very common under Aaron Boone. This time, it's even worse. Once Volpe recovers from his cortisone shot, will he resume his role as the regular shortstop? If he does, will that continue into the playoffs? If he demonstrates that he still can't hit and his defense is shaky, can the Yankees risk playing him during the playoffs, particularly in a three-game series? 

One thing is clear, this situation is a mess. And it's the latest one in a long line of messes in recent years.

Next Up-

The Yankees will play the second game of the three-game series against the Red Sox this afternoon at 4:10 PM at Fenway Park. The Red Sox will use Brayan Bello, (11-6, 3.12 ERA). The Yankees will send Max Fried, (16-5, 3.02 ERA) to the mound.