Schadenfreude 341 (A Continuing Series)

Greg Joyce, Post:

It can always get worse.

After Saturday's washout followed Friday's stinker, the Yankees' miserable weekend at Fenway Park sank even lower on Sunday when they were swept out of town.

The Red Sox claimed both games of the day-night doubleheader, 6-2 and 4-1, sending the reeling Yankees back home licking their wounds.

"It sucks," Anthony Rizzo said. . . .

Across 18 innings on Sunday, the Yankees mustered just nine hits — six of them from Jake Bauers and Gleyber Torres combined.

After being stifled by a Red Sox bullpen game in the afternoon, they were shut down by Brayan Bello in the nightcap, continuing to look punchless in Aaron Judge's absence.

With most of their big bats going dormant in unison over the last two weeks, the Yankees (39-33) have now lost eight of their last 11 games — all of them without Judge. . . .

The Yankees . . . were swept in a doubleheader by the Red Sox (37-35) at Fenway Park for the first time since 1976.

The bats that the Yankees need to be their biggest have all gone cold at the worst time. Giancarlo Stanton is 5-for-41 (.122) since coming off the IL. DJ LeMahieu is 15-for-90 (.167) over his last 24 games.

Rizzo, after being robbed of extra bases by center-fielder Jarren Duran in the nightcap, is 4-for-48 (.083) since missing three games with a stiff neck. And Josh Donaldson is 4-for-33 (.121) with three home runs since coming off the IL. . . .

The Yankees scored in the first inning in each of the three games, though it hardly mattered much.

After Torres' two-run homer put them ahead in Game 1, Clarke Schmidt lost the lead in the fifth inning before the Red Sox broke a tie against Michael King with three runs on four straight two-out hits in the sixth.

Then in Game 2, Luis Severino turned in another mediocre start across five innings, giving up all four (three earned) of the runs he allowed with two outs. . . .

[T]he Red Sox outscored the Yankees 25-8 and out-hit them 36-19.

Peter Botte, Post:

Giancarlo Stanton . . . has been searching to regain any semblance of his timing and power stroke since returning from the injured list on June 2.

Stanton now is batting .119 (5-for-42) with 15 strikeouts over his first 12 games since making it back from a six-week hamstring absence.

Those numbers include seven hitless at-bats with one walk and five Ks as the Yankees were swept — 6-2 and 4-1 — by the Red Sox in Sunday's day-night doubleheader at Fenway. . . .

"I just need to figure it out." . . .

The 33-year-old Stanton has spent significant time on the injured list in each of the past five seasons since appearing in 158 games in his first year in pinstripes in 2018 following a trade from the Marlins.

He has appeared in only 315 of the Yanks' last 618 regular-season games . . .

Gary Phillips, Daily News:

The Red Sox didn't tag the Yankees for 15 runs again when their series resumed on Sunday afternoon, yet Boston hammered its division rivals – and the Green Monster – for the second consecutive game, a 6-2 win for the home team.

The Sox started their scoring in the fifth after Clarke Schmidt allowed a walk and a double to Justin Turner, which could have been – but was not – caught against the wall by a leaping Jake Bauers in left. Alex Verdugo then scored on a Rafael Devers groundout before Adam Duvall singled Turner home.

Michael King prevented further damage in the fifth, but he allowed four two-out hits, including RBI doubles to Connor Wong and Verdugo, in the sixth. Both doubles peppered the Monster. . . .

Nick Ramirez then balked in Masataka Yoshida after the outfielder tripled in the seventh. . . .

While the Red Sox had no problem driving the ball, the Yankees' lineup didn't put up much of a fight against Boston in a bullpen game. . . .

Brayan Bello played a part in keeping the Bronx bats silent, as he held the Yankees to one run while striking out eight and walking three over seven innings and 102 pitches. It was the second time in as many starts that the 24-year-old took advantage of an unproductive lineup, as Bello limited the Yankees to two runs over seven innings at Yankee Stadium on June 11.

The struggling Luis Severino, meanwhile, showed some improvement after allowing 16 earned runs over his last three starts, but he still totaled seven hits, four runs (three earned), three walks and six strikeouts over five innings and 81 pitches.