Schadenfreude 310 (A Continuing Series)

Death may take a holiday, but Schadenfreude never goes on vacation!

Dan Martin, Post:

There were no late-game mishaps or blown saves this time.

But it's still hard to envision a more disappointing loss for the Yankees, who had Gerrit Cole on the mound Friday night at Fenway Park and were in desperate need of a victory.

Instead, Cole was mediocre, the Yankees squandered a great opportunity to add runs in the top of the second inning and the Red Sox's Rafael Devers hit a pair of huge homers to send them to a 6-2 defeat.

With the loss, the Yankees fell to nine games behind first-place Boston in the AL East. The Yankees have lost nine of 11 games this season to their rivals.

They're also five out in the wild-card race. . . .

To make matters worse, they lost Gary Sanchez, who left the game with back spasms after the fifth inning. . . .

Kiké Hernandez hit a rocket off the Green Monster in left with one out in the bottom of the fifth, but it went for just a single.

Rookie Jarren Duran then crushed a shot to right-center. The ball bounced into the stands for a ground-rule double, however, and Hernandez had to stay at third.

With runners on second and third, one out and Bogaerts up, the Yankees brought the infield in. On an 0-2 pitch, Bogaerts hit a sacrifice fly to right, just deep enough to score Hernandez and tie the game.

Devers then hit a two-run homer over the Monster in left-center to give Boston a 3-1 lead. . . .

Down two runs in the seventh, the Yankees got a pair of runners on against Garrett Whitlock, but [Giancarlo] Stanton grounded out softly to short.

Both runners advanced before Odor came to the plate. Rather than walk Odor and pitch to Brantly, the Red Sox went after Odor, who flied to center.

Devers put the game away in the seventh with a three-run shot off Nestor Cortes. . . .

"We're not looking at the standings," [DJ] LeMahieu said. . . .

Kristie Ackert, Daily News:

It was a dream-like run for almost a week. The Yankees came out of the All-Star break . . . playing small ball while still hitting home runs. They were pitching strong and winning.

After two games at Fenway, they crashed back into reality.

Their offense stalled with runners in scoring position, they were dealing with yet another key injury and their ace Gerrit Cole couldn't hold off the Red Sox. After a gut-punch, devastating loss on Thursday, the Yankees were beaten soundly, 6-2, on Friday. . . .

This is a crucial stretch in the Yankees' season, with eight out of the first 10 games after the All-Star break against the Red Sox (60-38) and then the next three against the Rays, who are battling Boston for the lead. With the second straight loss, the Yankees (50-46) dropped to nine games back in the American League East and at least five behind in the American League Wild Card race. . . .

Even tougher than losing two was the possibility of losing Gary Sanchez, who left the game in the fifth inning. The Yankees said it was a mid-back spasm . . .

After going 1-for 8 with runners in scoring position in Thursday night's extra-inning nightmare of a loss, the Yankees were 2-for-7 on Friday. The Yankees went into the game hitting .219 with a .651 OPS with runners in scoring position which is 29th worst in MLB.

The Yankees managed just four hits against the Red Sox bullpen after starter Eduardo Rodriguez left the game with migraine symptoms in the second inning. . . .

Cole had escaped trouble in the third, when he issued two one-out walks. He worked around a one-out double in the fourth and got lucky on the first two hits he gave up in the fifth. Enrique Hernandez hit a ball hard off the top of the Green Monster and Jarren Duran's likely triple bounced into a grounds-rule double.

But, the luck ran out quickly.

With two outs, Rafael Devers crushed his 25th home run of the season to score Hernandez and Duran and give the Red Sox a 3-1 lead. Devers homered again in the seventh off Nestor Cortes.

The Red Sox, who had crushed Cole in his last visit here, just tried to grind him down Friday night. Cole had to work hard to get out of those jams he could. When he coaxed a fly out from J.D. Martinez in the fifth, he was at 104 pitches.

Cole has faced the Red Sox in back-to-back starts now and it doesn't get any easier for the right-hander or the Yankees. They will face the Rays in his next start.

Ken Davidoff, Post:

The Yankees led with their ace on the mound, and you would've bet your house on a defeat.

You know this team too well.

Gerrit Cole indeed lost on Friday night, 6-2 to the Red Sox at Fenway Park . . . Cole pitched satisfactorily, limiting the Red Sox to three runs in five innings as they wore him out for an astounding 104 pitches. . . .

[T]he Yankees [are] now feeling the full effects of their COVID-19 outbreak as well as their overall roller-coaster campaign. With each loss generally (this was number 46, two fewer than their entire 1998 regular season) and specifically to the Red Sox (against whom they are now 2-9 and whom they trail by nine games in the American League East, yeesh), you increasingly wonder what sort of resources the Yankees should expend before the July 30 trade deadline. They can't give up anyone good . . . Not for an endeavor that looks too much like a Hail Mary pass.

In the wake of Thursday night's disastrous loss . . . the Yankees created (and received) one shot to move past that on Friday, and when they blew that, you could start writing their nightly obituary. Whether they're soft or are just wiped out at this juncture might be inconsequential.

That one opportunity arrived in the top of the second inning, when Brett Gardner doubled home Gary Sanchez for the 1-0 lead and put Yankees on second and third with no outs. Boston starting pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez [departed] . . . his night felled by migraine systems.

In came righty reliever Phillips Valdez . . . and righty-swinging first baseman Chris Gittens clearly struck out. [A HBP loaded the bases before Greg Allen and DJ LeMahieu struck out] . .  leaving the bases jammed and completely flipping the momentum. . . .

[T]his was not the Cole of recent vintage. He battled like crazy, picking up eight strikeouts against six hits and two walks, yet through three innings, he had thrown a startling 70 pitches. When the Sawx did connect against him, they hit the ball hard. Hence it proved no surprise when the home team broke through with a three-run fifth, a Xander Bogaerts sacrifice fly tying the score and a Rafael Devers two-run homer putting the Red Sox up by a 3-1 count.. . .

By the time Devers slammed a three-run shot off Nestor Cortes . . . in the seventh, Sanchez had left the game with mid-back spasms and all hope had been lost, the Yankees 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position (and adding one more failure each in the eighth and ninth). Five Red Sox relievers combined to throw eight innings of one-run ball, that run coming with two outs in the ninth. Brutal.

This Yankees club inspires a lack of confidence. It instills you with a fear that something disastrous will occur. Even with its best player front and center. . . .

Your 2021 Yankees, ladies and gentlemen. Coming to an ulcer near you.