Boston Red Sox
New York outscored Boston, 18-2, in the series and left no doubt.
COMMENTARY
The Red Sox weren’t supposed to be here.
They weren’t supposed to rise from the dead and revitalize their season. They weren’t supposed to give fans reason to believe in the seemingly impossible. They weren’t supposed to make the playoffs and face the Yankees again.
Once they did all that, against all odds, they weren’t supposed to resemble a junior varsity team facing a varsity team in the postseason. But they did.
Had they shown the grittiness that defined their summer surge in this series and fallen to a better team, the disappointment would have been much easier to digest for understandably disgruntled Red Sox fans.
Losing like this, though, 9-0 on Tuesday and 9-2 on Wednesday, and genuinely looking like they didn’t belong on the same field, was a sobering reminder of just how far away this team is from truly contending.
“The goal is to win a World Series,” Red Sox manager Chad Tracy told reporters. “That ended for us tonight. It’s frustrating. There’s a lot of things you could say, but in the moment right now, the guys only care that we lost. It’s going to take some time to get over that.”
We all knew the Yankees were a better team, but I don’t think any of us knew how much better they really are. Now we all do. This didn’t look like a fluke. It looked like a bunch of bullies taking a helpless kid’s lunch money and giving him a wedgie.
Yes, this was a memorable season with many riveting twists and turns, but it will ultimately be remembered as one that left fans craving more. That summer magic is now a distant memory, as their bad habits crept in at the worst possible time and deprived them of playing into October.
Here are five takeaways from Game 2:
Max effort
A night after Cam Schlittler dominated the Red Sox, Yankees starter Max Fried almost matched him with a masterful performance of his own.
Fried, a crafty 6-foot-4-inch left-hander, allowed one run on three hits and struck out six on 98 pitches (62 strikes) in six stellar innings.
The Red Sox made him throw 21 pitches in the first inning, then he found a rhythm after that with a 1-2-3 second. Nate Eaton hustled to second for a double in the third, yet Boston couldn’t capitalize. Eaton was the Red Sox’ only runner to reach second until the sixth, as they looked lifeless at the plate once again.
This is truly a case where the Yankees deserve credit for their mastery and the Red Sox deserve blame for their ineptitude. It’s not just one or the other. Both parties are responsible for the outcome.
Partly Sonny
Red Sox righty Sonny Gray breezed through the first inning on 11 pitches, striking out Ben Rice to make a statement early. He continued to freeze hitters in the second and third, leaning on his sinker and commanding his pitches well as he so often does.
It was all going according to plan until the fourth inning, when Luis García Jr. smashed a solo shot 387 feet to right. Gray (six hits, two earned runs, five strikeouts, 70 pitches, 50 strikes) recovered from there, yet his overall performance left him wanting more from himself.
Gray had an outstanding year, and like Payton Tolle, he was very good but not exceptional in the postseason. This was the second consecutive night that the Red Sox’ starter went 4 ⅔ innings and pitched well but not well enough.
“I think I’m the best pitcher in the American League going through the order the third time,” Gray told reporters. “I think that’s a fact. Yeah, I would have liked to live or die with me in that moment. That’s the competitor I am. You can probably ask the guys and they felt the same way.”
Erik Miller entered once again, and once again, he gave up a hit. This one was to Cody Bellinger, who plated Austin Wells to make it 2-0.
Managerial decisions like that are easy to question when they don’t work and praise when they do, but it was certainly interesting that Red Sox skipper Chad Tracy made the same decision two nights in a row and it backfired both times.
“I would have liked to have been trusted in that moment,” Gray said.
Eaton gunned Rice at the plate to keep it there, but a two-run deficit genuinely seemed insurmountable for the Red Sox.
Willson wake-up
Willson Contreras, who was often the one to provide a spark when the Red Sox really needed one throughout the season, did exactly that in the sixth inning.
A ball that looked like a deep fly out initially carried 375 feet, just over the fence in right-center, to slice the deficit to 2-1 in the sixth.
It was the Red Sox’ first postseason run since Trevor Story’s solo shot in the sixth inning of Game 2 last year. The Red Sox didn’t score the rest of that game, or the next one, or the next one. The streak reached a somewhat preposterous 26 ⅔ innings, their longest in playoff franchise history, before Contreras delivered.
Contreras also singled in the first and walked twice to round out a strong all-around performance.
For the first time all series, the Red Sox briefly had hope.
It didn’t last long.
Not Crochet’s day
Garrett Crochet rehabbed diligently to return to the mound for the first time since April 25. He entered in a key spot and couldn’t keep it a one-run game.
Spencer Jones reached on a strikeout that turned into a wild pitch, stole second, and advanced to third on a throwing error. George Lombard Jr. singled to plate Jones, then Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Trent Grisham loaded the bases before Crochet exited without recording an out.
“I busted my ass the past five months,” Crochet told reporters. “For it to end that way, on a personal note, is tough. I wanted to come back and contribute to the team as best I could, knowing that these guys grinded all year long.”
Wells scored Lombard Jr. on a sacrifice fly off Garrett Whitlock. Ryan McMahon drove in Chisholm Jr. on a groundout to make it 5-1, then Bellinger effectively ended the Red Sox’ season with a dagger three-run homer to right.
The Red Sox had arguably the best bullpen in baseball all season, but it crumbled in the playoffs and let two tight games turn into blowouts.
“Sometimes you do all the right things, and it doesn’t go your way,” Crochet said.
End of the road
Nick Sogard sliced it to 8-2 with a well-struck solo shot to right in the seventh inning.
Wells drove in Chisholm Jr. with a single to center in the seventh to push it to 9-2. Nothing materialized there, as the Red Sox couldn’t muster another run and watched their season come to a crashing halt.
It was fun while it lasted. No one can deny that. This team invigorated a fan base with a summer for the ages, and that chapter of the story should always be remembered as a thrill.
But, when they got a crack at redemption against their rival, they looked significantly outmatched. It feels like if the Red Sox and Yankees simulated this series 10 times at Yankee Stadium, Boston may only win one or two.
This was a regular season unlike any other in franchise history, but the postseason didn’t carry anywhere close to the same drama.
The Red Sox, as they currently stand, aren’t good enough to contend for a World Series. The only positive of this series is that it illuminated that fact.
It’s time for a major shakeup in the offseason. If they don’t make drastic changes, there’s a very real possibility next year will end in the exact same fashion. Red Sox fans deserve better.
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