The bulked-up bullpen was built for games like this.
BOSTON — The bulked-up bullpen was built for games like this, with depth that was supposed to make all the difference, only it killed the Yankees on this night, and once again it feels as if they’ re being pushed to the edge of the cliff by the Red Sox.
After all, if the bullpen isn’ t the one clear-cut advantage over the Sox the Yankees thought it would be down the stretch, they’ re simply not catching their arch-rivals in this AL East race.
And right now, with Aroldis Chapman more of a mess than ever, it seems, the bullpen sure can’ t be called an advantage.
Chapman wasn’ t even the culprit on this night; he just remains the eye of the storm after another poor outing that left Joe Girardi trying to avoid questions about whether he’ ll continue to use him as his closer.
“I’ ll sleep on it,’ ’ he said.
You can bet he wasn’ t going to sleep well. Not after the Yankees had a 6-3 lead in the seventh inning, thanks to a stirring comeback that had silenced the fans at Fenway Park.
At that point it was a must-win when you’ re chasing. Yet the Yankees couldn’ t even get to Chapman, as the combination of Chad Green and Tommy Kahnle gave up four runs in the bottom of the seventh.
So it was 7-6 and when Girardi used Chapman anyway, the Red Sox jumped him for two runs, getting good swings as if he was throwing 90, not 100. Furthermore, they embarrassed him by pulling off a double-steal when the lefthander didn’ t bother to so much as look back at the runner at second.
That was enough to tell Chapman was lost in his own search for answers, as he tries to figure out what’s happened to him.
In any case, the add-on runs made for a 9-6 final, as the Sox late-inning combination of Addison Reed and Craig Kimbrel was practically flawless.
Reed, the ex-Met, got the biggest outs, bailing the Sox out of a bases-loaded situation in the seventh by striking out Aaron Judge with high heat and fooling Gary Sanchez into weak contact with an off-speed slider.
Add it all up and, man, the Yankees had some crushing losses against these Red Sox lately. You have to wonder how many they can withstand before it dooms them once and for all to second place in the AL East and the wild card path to October.
The deficit is five games now, and it looms larger because Chris Sale takes the mound again against the Yankees on Saturday.
They continue to find ways to hang in there, but for how much longer?
Yes, Sanchez is hot with the bat, but Judge can’ t escape his slump even after hitting a couple home runs in the Subway Series.
I thought he was turning a corner of late, but that discipline he showed in the first half comes and goes now, and he just can’ t seem to stay off the high fastball anymore.
More than anyone, he had a chance to turn the game into a rout for the Yankees during their comeback, but twice came up empty with the bases loaded.
He actually had a heck of an at-bat against Joe Kelly’s 100-mph fastball in the sixth, fouling off a few two-strike pitching before grounding out hard to short, and he battled Reed to a full count as well in the seventh.
But with only one out in that spot, just a fly ball would have upped the Yankees’ lead to 7-3, with Sanchez coming up, and who knows if things go differently from there.
Afterward Judge shook his head and said, “Those are the at-bats you want to be in. I felt like my process was good but (Reed) made a good pitch on me and I couldn’ t get to it.”
Killer loss, all right.
But it was quite a game, quite a playoff atmosphere at Fenway.
Hard for Yankee fans to look at it that way, I know, but it’s great to see the spark back in this rivalry. And it’s all about the young stars on both sides that is setting up what could be another golden age of this famed rivalry.
“Oh, yeah, you can see the way it’s going to be here for at least the next few years,’ ’ Brett Gardner said. “People say the rivalry was stronger five or 10 years ago, or whatever, but there’s so much young talent on both sides, it’s a lot of fun.”
It’s not fun to lose games like this, of course, but both of these teams are almost surely headed for the postseason and, who knows, maybe their first October meeting since The Rivalry peaked in 2003 and’ 04 with those ultra-intense ALCS matchups.
More and more it’s looking like the Yankees will have to take the wild card route to get there, and, at this point, Girardi & Co. would be just fine with that — if you could just guarantee them Chapman’s funk will be ancient history by then
