Trevor Story the hero, Red Sox/Yankees southpaw showdown underwhelms

NEW YORK It s been a long time since the Red Sox had an ace left-hander to bring to a southpaw showdown with the Yankees The Red Sox won - but it wasn t much of a showdown Garrett Crochet yielded a season-high five earned runs on six hits in six topsy-turvy innings He issued one walk struck out nine and was charged with a balk Throwing pitches for strikes he induced swings-and-misses issued one walk was charged with a balk and struck out nine including captain Aaron Judge thrice Crochet has now struck out batters over his last three starts according to MLB s Sarah Langs he s the first Red Sox pitcher to strike out at least batters over a three-game span since Chris Sale and Eduardo Rodriguez in and the club s youngest pitcher to do so since Jon Lester in It began well enough for Crochet who needed pitches to get through a - - first which he bookended with a pair of strikeouts to leadoff man Paul Goldschmidt and Aaron Judge The bottom of the third went the same way But pitching with a one-run lead thanks to Kristian Campbell s first RBI since May in the bottom of the second Crochet got knotted up He gave up a leadoff single to Cody Bellinger who stole second after Jasson Dom nguez struck out looking and third while DJ LeMahieu worked a walk Austin Wells th home run of the year went just far enough feet to the short porch for a - Yankees lead It was the only lead the Yankees would get Ryan Yarbrough had triumphed in his three outings against the Red Sox last season but those were relief appearances with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays Starts were another story Yarbrough entered Saturday with a career ERA over nine starts against the Red Sox with earned runs on hits and just strikeouts over innings All of announced games were with another divisional rival the Tampa Bay Rays between - Yarbrough s last start against Boston was Sept a seven-run drubbing in which he lasted just two innings A very different cadre of Boston batters stepped up to the plate four seasons later but the end aftermath was similarly productive they tormented Yarbrough into an early to the tune of eight earned runs on nine hits including Romy Gonzalez s first homer of the season in just four innings He issued two walks hit a batter and only struck out three For just the th time in this season the Red Sox scored first They jumped out to an early - advantage in the second and reclaimed the lead with a five-run top of the third in which Yarbrough faced the entire lineup and forced relievers to begin warming in the Yankees bullpen The second time his teammates handed him a lead Crochet hung on even as the lower-two thirds of the Yankees lineup hit him hard again in the fourth Unfortunately for the Red Sox Yarbrough s silver-platter start was over after the fourth and the Yankees bullpen wasn t nearly as generous Yerry De los Santos yielded one hit and two walks but kept Boston from adding on in his three innings of work and Mark Leiter Jr pitched a scoreless eighth Those wasted opportunities proved costly in the bottom of the eighth when Justin Wilson who s been so reliable for Boston became the latest Red Sox reliever to scuffle After allowing just one earned run over appearances dating back to April Wilson gave up two earned runs That Ceddanne Rafaela threw home instead of to the cutoff man for the second time this week when Ben Rice singled to center to drive in both runs didn t help matters Such defensive decisions don t register as errors but they still hurt the Red Sox in crucial moments The Red Sox also lead MLB in errors Boston s double-digit scoring night was due in large part to two of the club s coldest hitters Campbell went -for- with a pair of runs batted in and Trevor Story who twice delivered when he came up with the bases loaded In the third Story s fifth double of the year cleared the bases and retook the lead for the Red Sox After the Yankees pulled within a run in the eighth Story s two-run single gave Boston much-needed breathing room In the end Aroldis Chapman who spent seven seasons in pinstripes closed out the win for the other side