The Red Sox ran the Yankees out of the building on Sunday night at Fenway Park.
Wreaking havoc on the bases with nine steals against Jose Trevino and his pitchers, the Red Sox manufactured their way to a 9-3 win to take the series in front of a sellout crowd of 36,718.
It marked the first time this season the Yankees (50-24) have lost a rubber game after winning each of their first six, leading to only their fourth series loss in 23 series.
“I think any night you don’t win a ballgame, it’s frustrating,” Trevino said. “But especially tonight, gotta make better throws, gotta get the ball out.”
Red Sox’s David Hamilton, bottom, slides safely into home to score on a single by Connor Wong as New York Yankees catcher Jose Trevino, top, tries to tag him in the eighth inning of a baseball game
Yankees’ Marcus Stroman delivers a pitch to a Boston Red Sox batter in the first inning of a baseball game
With their team speed on display throughout the night, which continually set them up with runners in scoring position, the Red Sox’s nine stolen bases broke a single-game franchise record.
They were also the most steals the Yankees have allowed since 1915, when they also let up nine, which is tied for the second-most in franchise history.
The Red Sox (37-35) took advantage of Trevino, who entered the night with the weakest throwing arm among 60 qualified catchers this season, according to Statcast.
Opponents were 19-for-28 stealing bases against him coming into Sunday before the Red Sox went 9-for-10 (with Marcus Stroman catching one before he delivered to the plate).
Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo (48) trips on Boston Red Sox pitcher Brennan Bernardino (not pictured) and rolls on the ground during the seventh inning
“They’re going to run,” said Trevino, who homered in the sixth inning. “We knew that coming in. I just gotta put the ball on the bag.”
Trevino and Stroman were the battery for the first six steals before the Red Sox swiped three more against the Yankees’ bullpen.
“I need to do a better job holding, maybe getting a little quicker to the plate,” said Stroman, who walked four and gave up four runs across five innings. “They have speed. They have a bunch of guys in that lineup that can run. Obviously it makes it incredibly tough with the pitch clock, the [limited throw] overs. It’s tough, so we gotta do a better job.”
While Trevino and Stroman each took the blame, manager Aaron Boone put it on the group as a whole.
“It’s on all of us,” Boone said. “It’s a group effort. It takes everything to control running games. They have a very fast team and their running game beat us tonight. We gotta do a better job overall of controlling those things, slowing them down and we didn’t do it well enough tonight.”
The Yankees will now be tasked with shaking off the back-to-back losses into an off day Monday before welcoming the Orioles into The Bronx on Tuesday for a divisional showdown.
The activity on the bases Sunday played a key part in the Red Sox taking a 4-1 lead, which the Yankees had trimmed to 4-3 by the sixth inning.
Boston Red Sox relief pitcher Greg Weissert (57) and catcher Connor Wong (12) celebrate beating the New York Yankees at Fenway Park
But the Yankees blew a key chance to tie the game or take the lead in the seventh, when they had the bases loaded with no outs and could not score against reliever Zack Kelly.
Gleyber Torres went from a 3-0 count to chasing a pitch in the dirt for strike three before Trevino struck out on three pitches and DJ LeMahieu lined out to center field.
To make matters worse, the Yankees lost Anthony Rizzo to a right lower-arm injury after a collision at first base in the top of the seventh.
Rizzo is set to undergo testing on Monday in New York but left the game in visible pain.
Yankees center fielder Aaron Judge (99) reacts to hitting a home run against the Boston Red Sox during the first inning at Fenway Park
The Red Sox then blew the game open by scoring three runs in the bottom of the seventh and two more in the eighth, all while continuing to run wild and create scoring chances at will.
“They were able to get on base and then once they got on base, they were able to get into scoring position,” said Aaron Judge, who crushed his 26th home run of the season in the first inning. “They were 6-for-15 with guys in scoring position. We [were] 0-for-5. You’re not going to win a lot of ballgames like that. They capitalized when they got guys in scoring position. They were able to do it all night, either on walks or guy got a base hit. That’s kind of the story of the game tonight.”
