Red Sox Ace Garrett Crochet shut the Yankees down for 7 innings while Will Warren allowed a couple of runs in the 3rd, a couple more in the 4th, and left trailing 5-1.
The Yankees brought in newly acquired Paul Blackburn — who most Yankee fans had no idea was on the team — and he pitched a shutout 7th and 8th before imploding in the 9th — allowing 7 Boston runs for the 12-1 drubbing on a Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.
It was the 3rd straight loss to Boston in the 4-game series — the Yanks shoulda won Thursday night but made 4 errors, walked 9 batters, and left 10 on base; and then lost 1-0 Friday in a pitchers’ duel.
The Yankees are falling in slow motion.
“Obviously Crochet had it going; shut us down,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards. “Will missing spots. And then obviously turns into a rout late. We have to turn it around. Obviously we have to be better, especially with the top two teams in our division right now. Have to salvage one tomorrow.”
NY falls to 69-60, and are now 6 behind Toronto and 1.5 behind Boston, which is 71-59.
1. Warren Struggled
Will Warren was looking to do for the Yankees what Brayan Bello did for the Bosox the day before — outduel the other team’s ace.
And it was looking good at first as Warren pitched a shutout through the first 2 innings. He was helped by Austin Wells behind the plate — who defensively at least has become the next Thurman Munson. Wells threw out the superfast Ceddanne Rafaela trying to steal 2nd on a Warren pitch in the dirt.
Got ’em ? pic.twitter.com/50rjZoxLtX
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) August 23, 2025
But things started to fall in slow motion in the 3rd, as Warren allowed consecutive 1-out singles and a walk to load the bases, struck out Jarren Duran for the 2nd out — and was an out away from getting out of the jam when Trevor Story ripped a 2-RBI double to left for a 2-0 Boston lead.
The Yanks went out 1-2-3 against Crochet, and Warren was right back on the mound for the 4th — and got ripped some more — a leadoff double by Ceddanne Rafaela, a single by David Hamilton, and hit-by-pitch by Carlos Narvaez loaded the bases with nobody out.
Consecutive sac flies made it 4-0 Boston.
And then Trevor Story led off the 5th with a HR to right center and Warren’s day was done. Boston 5 NY 1.
2. Crochet Great
Meanwhile Garrett Crochet was great, pitching 7 innings and allowing 1 run on 5 hits while striking out 11.
But beneath the boxscore — the Yanks almost got to him, besides Stanton’s HR.
In the bottom of the 5th, Aaron Judge “just missed” a 2-run bomb to right — caught at the wall.
This stinks pic.twitter.com/4wAENeu8Nd
— Talkin’ Yanks (@TalkinYanks) August 23, 2025
In general, Crochet was in command however — his fastball and sharp breaking pitches kept the Yankees’ lineup off balance.
Garrett Crochet K’ing the Side in the 7th.
11 Ks thru 7. pic.twitter.com/9M1n2BjRhD
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 23, 2025
Crochet wins to go 14-5 2.38.
3. Stanton Gets to Crochet with HR in 4th
Giancarlo Stanton got the Yankees’ lone run — a HR to right center off a 97-MPH four-seam fastball from Crochet leading off the 4th.
Big G Bomb ? pic.twitter.com/g9bTs2C5Ny
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) August 23, 2025
4. Hill Good
Tim Hill got the last 3 outs of the 5th (allowing a 1-out single then getting a double play), and got two strikeouts in the 6th sandwiching a single — and was relieved by.. Paul Blackburn.
5. Paul “Who?” Blackburn Great at First
Who?
Paul Blackburn.
The veteran, 31-yr-old righty who spent 8 years in Oakland before pitching the last 2 years with the Mets. He was released by the Mets on August 18 and picked up by the Yankees on August 21. He was 0-3 6.85 for the Mets this year, and he was 0-3 8.33 last year with the Mets and A’s.
And Blackburn proceeded to go out and pitch 2.1 shutout innings — getting the last out of the 6th, pitching a 1-2-3 inning in the 7th, and rope-a-doping a shutout 8th, allowing a walk, then getting a double play, allowing a triple, then getting the final out.
6. Yankee Rally Against Bosox Pen in 8th Fizzles
Down 5-1, the Yanks rallied as soon as Crochet left the game after 7. Ben Rice led off the bottom of the 8th against former Yank Greg Weissert with a fly out to deep center, but Aaron Judge followed with a double to center, and Cody Bellinger singled to right to put runners on 1st and 3rd.
But Weissert struck out Giancarlo Stanton, and lefty and former Yank Justin Wilson came in to strike out lefty Jazz Chisholm Jr.
7. Blackburn Rocked in 9th; Volpe Error
Blackburn’s slipper fell off and was lost in the 9th, as the Red Sox turned the 5-1 game into a 12-1 blowout. The inning began with Jarren Duran drawing a leadoff walk, followed by Nathaniel Lowe’s single to left, putting runners on 1st and 2nd. Ceddanne Rafaela then laced a double to right-center, scoring Duran and moving Lowe to third, making it 6-1.
With the infield drawn in, Anthony Volpe made a good stop on a hard grounder from Wilyer Abreu but then threw it way over Paul Goldschmidt‘s head at 1st, allowing Lowe to score and Rafaela to advance, pushing the lead to 7-1.
It was Volpe’s first error in several weeks — as after a rough patch, he had been terrific defensively recently.
Blackburn then balked, advancing Abreu to second, before issuing a walk to Connor Wong, putting 2 on. Carlos Narvaez stepped up and crushed a 2-run homer to left, his second of the season, ballooning the score to 9-1. The onslaught continued as Trevor Story singled, and Masataka Yoshida drove him in with a double to deep center, making it 10-1.
Marinaccio Sighting
Boone yanked Blackburn and brought in Ron Marinaccio — again to the surprise of most Yankee fans who hadn’t seen him since last year.
Duran singled again, and Lowe capped the inning with a 2-run double, finalizing the score at 12-1.
The Red Sox sent out Jordan Hicks for the 9th — he of the 6.50 ERA — and he got fly out, ground out, walk to Jose Caballero — and line out for the old ballgame.
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