NEW YORK — The Yankees wasted no time on Sunday night responding to Hunter Dobbins’ viral comment about never wanting to pitch in pinstripes, taking an immediate lead against the Red Sox right-hander.
Dobbins had said earlier this weekend that he would rather retire from baseball than agree to pitch for the Yankees, strong words coming from a rookie with an entire career ahead of him.
But Dobbins and his Beantown teammates had the last laugh in Sunday’s rubber match. They were able to erase an early deficit, take a late and pour it on late, all via the home run ball.
What looked like a close, low-scoring ballgame in the early innings quickly turned into a slugfest, a frustrating 11-7 loss for the Yankees — a series loss to a team that stumbled into this three-game set in fourth place in the American League East.
Dobbins gave up two runs before he threw his seventh pitch in the bottom of the first.
Ben Rice lined a two-strike single over the second baseman and Aaron Judge followed with a booming two-run home run to the bleachers in right field. The homer from Judge was a 436-foot no-doubter to the opposite field. He’s up to 23 home runs on the season now, factoring in the two-run shot he hit in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Yankees tried unsuccessfully to come back.
With the way starter Carlos Rodón has been throwing the ball for much of this season, the Yankees had to feel good about their early advantage, poised to do more damage against Dobbins offensively.
Through four innings, they were cruising with that 2-0 lead. Rodón had faced two over the minimum with one hit allowed up to that point. But the southpaw coughed up the lead in the fifth and then dug his team into a hole in the sixth, failing to keep the ball in the yard with runners on base.
Kristian Campbell, out of the nine spot for Boston, skied a game-tying two-run homer in the fifth on an elevated fastball from Rodón. He kept it far inside the foul pole down the right-field line. Campbell’s homer came after Rodón walked No. 8 hitter Ceddanne Rafaela, a plate appearance he’ll surely want back.
That trend popped back up one inning later for the left-hander, leading to a go-ahead three-run homer from ex-Yankee catcher Carlos Narvaez.
Rodón hit Rafael Devers to start that inning and then walked Rob Refsnyder on five pitches, totally losing his command. He was able to locate to his spot up and in with two strikes against Narvaez, but the backstop beat him there and hooked his three-run blast out to left.
Narvaez’s home run was Rodón’s final pitch of the night. With his lapse in command to start that inning and reliever Fernando Cruz ready and waiting in the bullpen, Boone’s decision to stick with his starter backfired. Rodón has certainly earned his manager’s trust in those big spots with his recent run of dominance — he entered play with a 1.27 ERA over his last nine starts — but it’s a move that can certainly be second-guessed in retrospect.
The Red Sox added two more runs later in that inning. Cruz loaded the bases after entering with nobody out and when Boone turned to Tim Hill to get out of the jam, the left-hander gave up a two-run single to left fielder Jarren Duran with two outs.
The Yankees, trailing 7-3 at that point, showed some fight in the bottom of that sixth frame. Jazz Chisholm Jr. drove a run home with a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded and one out, plating Judge from third. A few batters later, Trent Grisham worked an RBI walk out of the seven home to make it a two-run game.
DJ LeMahieu was up next and after the solo home run he poked out to right in his previous at-bat, Boone stuck with the veteran in a huge spot. With two outs and the entire stadium chanting “D-J” over and over, the 36-year-old chased an 0-1 slider off the plate from former Yankees pitching prospect Garrett Whitlock, grounding out weakly to second.
Leaving those runners on proved to be costly.
Facing Yankees reliever Jonathan Loáisiga in the eighth, Boston started the inning with back-to-back solo home runs from third baseman Abraham Toro and shortstop Trevor Story. Suddenly, it was a four-run lead for the Red Sox again.
The Yankees had a chance to battle back in the bottom of the eighth, but they were one big hit short.
Paul Goldschmidt led off that inning with a base hit up the middle and Anthony Volpe drove a double into the left-field corner. They were stranded in scoring position as Grisham struck out swinging and LeMahieu lined out to right, both against ex-Yankee reliever Greg Weissert.
Judge swatted his second home run of the game in the bottom of the ninth with one man out, another towering fly ball to the opposite field. It was too little too late for those in pinstripes, though.
Closer (and another ex-Yankee) Aroldis Chapman entered with two runners on and two men out, shutting the door with a three-pitch strikeout of Volpe.
LOOKING AHEAD
Monday: Off
Tuesday: Yankees at Royals, 7:40 p.m. ET, YES/TBS. LHP Max Fried (8-1, 1.78) vs. LHP Noah Cameron (2-1, 0.85)
Wednesday: Yankees at Royals, 7:40 p.m. ET, Amazon/MLB Network. RHP Clarke Schmidt (2-3, 4.04) vs. LHP Kris Bubic (5-3, 1.43)
Thursday: Yankees at Royals, 7:40 p.m. ET, YES/MLB Network. RHP Will Warren (4-3, 5.34) vs. RHP Seth Lugo (3-5, 3.46)