Yankees Blow Golden Opportunity To Gain Ground In AL East
BOSTON (CBSNewYork/AP) — Didi Gregorius' fly ball was hit in the wrong ballpark.
Gregorius flied out to the warning track with the bases loaded in the ninth inning, ending a miserable night for the New York Yankees in a 4-3 loss to the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on Monday.
The Yankees scored a run with three walks and a single against Boston's new closer Jean Machi.
After Greg Bird was called out on strikes, Gregorius hit a drive to Fenway's spacious right field that was caught by Rusney Castillo on the warning track.
"I mean, that's just a tough one," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "Guys had great at-bats there at the end."
Gregorius even thought his ball was gone.
"Well, I know I was a little bit out front, but it went further than I thought, so yeah," he said. "I think any other stadium except this because it's like 380 (feet) to right field. I think any other stadium than this one it would've went."
The Yankees stranded 14 baserunners.
Gregorius did have four singles for New York, which had scored 20 runs on Sunday to complete a three-game sweep over Atlanta.
The Yankees blew an opportunity to gain ground in the divisional race. With the loss they remained 1 ½ games behind AL East-leading Toronto, which lost 4-2 to Cleveland on Monday.
David Ortiz hit his 495th home run and Jackie Bradley Jr. had three hits and threw out a runner at the plate to carry the Red Sox.
Mookie Betts hit a two-run homer for the Red Sox. It was their ninth win in 13 games.
Ortiz lined a shot into the first row of Green Monster seats off Ivan Nova (5-7). It landed about 10-15 feet to the right of three new changeable white numbers on signs with red trim that were affixed to the stanchion of a light tower, signifying his countdown to 500.
Nova gave up three runs in six innings.
In his next at-bat, Ortiz had the crowd on its feet again when he lined a 3-0 fastball halfway up the wall in left for a double.
Eduardo Rodriguez (8-5) labored through five innings, allowing two runs — one earned — and seven hits. Machi got his fourth save.
New York loaded the bases three times in the first five innings against Rodriguez, who escaped with Bradley's help in the fourth and struck out Bird to end the fifth.
Bradley nailed Bird at the plate with a one-hop throw from left field after Gregorius' single.
Ryan Hanigan and third baseman Pablo Sandoval opened the game with consecutive errors — Hanigan's on catcher's interference — before Carlos Beltran's sacrifice fly made it 1-0.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Yankees: 1B Mark Teixeira was sent back to New York to have his bruised right shin re-examined. "We're going to run some tests," Girardi said. "I think they'll do some type of imaging to take a look at it."
Red Sox: LF Hanley Ramirez was sidelined for the fourth straight game with a sore right shoulder, but did take grounders again at first as he attempts a position shift. ... Interim manager Torey Luvollo said 2B Dustin Pedroia (strained right hamstring) could return around Sept. 10.
WALK THIS WAY
Yankees catcher Brian McCann has eight walks in his last four games. He had three Monday for his seventh multi-walk game of the season.
APPROACHING HIS OWN MILESTONE
Girardi has 798 career wins as a manager.
UP NEXT
Yankees: RHP Michael Pineda (9-8) is scheduled to make his second start Tuesday since returning from a stint on the DL with a strained right forearm.
Red Sox: RHP Rick Porcello (6-11) looks for another solid outing in his second start since a stretch on the DL with a strained right triceps. He threw seven shutout innings Wednesday at the White Sox.
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