NEW YORK — The game still very much in reach in the fifth inning, Andrew Benintendi represented the tying run with two men on base.
Eduardo Nunez took his lead off second. It was a big one. And it grew when Yankees starter J.A. Happ threw a slider off the plate. Catcher Gary Sanchez must’ve taken note because he immediately fired a bullet to second that beat Nunez back to the bag.
In the middle of the Red Sox’ best chance at a rally, with their No. 2 hitter at the plate, Nunez was picked off to end the inning.
Never again did the Sox reach second base.
The Yankees scored four runs off Chris Sale and surged to a 4-1 win in a swift game that took just 2 hours, 51 minutes and looked far too easy for the Yanks (37-19), who are starting to run away from the Red Sox (29-28) as the calendar flips to June.
In the Sox clubhouse afterward, both Sale and reigning MVP Mookie Betts looked fresh out of answers for another lifeless loss.
“It’s just frustrating where we’re at,” Sale said. “We’re something away from where we need to be. We just have to find that something. Whatever it is, where it is. Change our socks. Frozen pizza. I don’t know.”
After a 6-13 start buried the Sox 8½ games back in the American League East, they moved as close as three games from first place. It was on May 12. And they had just swept the Seattle Mariners, a team that started hot but has since fallen hard and fast back to the cellar in the AL West.
Since then, the Sox have stammered. They’re once again a season-worst 8½ games back. They’re 7-9 in their last 16 games while the Yankees have gone 13-3 in that same stretch. And they’ve done it without contributions from Aaron Judge or Giancarlo Stanton in the middle of the lineup, or Luis Severino in the rotation, or Dellin Betances in the bullpen.
“Doesn’t matter about big names,” Betts said. “It’s about playing the game. Those guys can play the game. Have to give credit when credit is due. They have a bunch of ballplayers over there playing the right way. They understand what they need to do and they’re taking care of business.”
And the Red Sox?
“Can’t really be good if you’re inconsistent,” he said. “We’re definitely that. We have a long way to go to fix it.”
This is no longer “it’s still early” territory. The Sox can’t blame the injury bug, which has been mostly nonexistent for them. Nathan Eovaldi’s loss hurt, but they’ve held their ground with a .500 record in bullpen games.
What continues to plague this Red Sox team are a few things that keep repeating themselves. It’s the mental mistakes on the bases and on defense. It’s throwing to the wrong base and trying to make hero plays.
Betts said the Sox aren’t paying attention to the “little details.” He said they’ve had a lack of focus and they have to “clean that up before we take some steps forward.”
On the mound, Sale is grinding again.
It’s not nearly as painful as it looked earlier in the season. He hit 97 mph last night and struck out 10. But he’s still paying the price for poorly located pitches. D.J. LeMahieu took an inside fastball and pounded it over the right-field fence for a solo shot in the fifth to make it 4-1 Yankees.
“The one to LeMahieu was kind of a backdoor slider that didn’t really break a whole lot,” Sale said.
That was after LeMahieu hit an RBI double in a three-run third.
The Yankees are getting terrific production from LeMahieu, who signed for two years and $24 million this offseason, and reliever Adam Ottavino, who signed for three years and $27 million.
Ottavino, who the Sox were chasing in the offseason, kept them off the board in a scoreless sixth inning.
Rafael Devers took another nice swing to take Happ deep in the second inning for an early 1-0 lead, but Sale couldn’t hold it.
The Sox just aren’t quite there. They continue to play a step or two away from the better teams. An Astros team missing Jose Altuve and George Springer took 2-of-3 from them last weekend.
And now the World Champion Red Sox are a loss away from losing another series against their division rivals, who are 3-0 against them in 2019.
Manager Alex Cora said he’s not going to change. He’ll keep “teaching principals and keep coaching them.”
Still, it’s difficult to explain how largely the same group that won 108 games in 2018 has played so poorly for much of the season.
“It is,” Betts said. “Whether I can explain it or not, it’s that much different right now. Have to figure out a way to make it better.”
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