Yankees’ AL East lead shrinks to 3.5 games after weekend sweep by Red Sox

For the first time since last July, the New York Yankees have been swept in a regular-season series. 

And it came against their most bitter rival. 

The Boston Red Sox had the Yankees’ number over the weekend, winning all three games of their rivalry at Fenway Park. The final victory came Sunday afternoon as Brayan Bello continued the trend of dominant starting pitching to help his Red Sox to a 2-0 win. 

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Boston Red Sox mascot Wally and his father, Walter, celebrate defeating the New York Yankees and sweeping the series at Fenway Park. (Eric Canha-Imagn Images)

Before the series, the Yankees were just one of three teams in MLB that hadn’t been swept this year. Their city counterpart, the New York Mets, and the Cincinnati Reds are now the only two teams that have managed to at least salvage one game in a series. 

It wasn’t necessarily the Yankees’ pitching that put them in this hole over the weekend, but rather the bats went almost completely silent, including the AL MVP frontrunner, Aaron Judge. 

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Other than his game-tying solo home run in the first game of this series to force extra innings off Garrett Crochet in the top of the ninth inning on Friday night, Judge was 0-for-11 with nine strikeouts. 

But it wasn’t just the Yankees captain that couldn’t get the bat going. As a team, the Yankees went 15-for-94 (.160) with 10 walks, three extra-base hits and 27 total strikeouts, including 11 in Sunday’s series finale. 

Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Brayan Bello pitches against the New York Yankees during the third inning at Fenway Park. (Eric Canha-Imagn Images)

As the 42-28 team knows, that’s not the way to success. 

But note the record for the season – the Yankees certainly can afford a slump given their AL East lead despite the losses. However, those losses, combined with the Tampa Bay Rays winning seven of their last 10 games, means New York only holds a 3.5-game lead atop the division. 

Meanwhile, the Red Sox are starting to get hot at just the right time. They hit well off two of the game’s best pitchers this season, Carlos Rodon and Max Fried, and the three wins got them back above .500 (37-36). They are now just a half-game back of the third and final AL Wild Card spot. 

New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge strikes out against the Boston Red Sox in the fourth inning at Fenway Park. (David Butler II-Imagn Images)

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Of course, there’s an entire second half of the season still to be played in this 162-game marathon. But while the Red Sox are getting hot, the Yankees’ bats will hope to steady the ship in the Bronx this week against the visiting Los Angeles Angels and Baltimore Orioles. 

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