BOSTON — The Yankees came within one swing of a different kind of headline. For seven innings at Fenway Park, Payton Tolle held the best record in the American League hitless and run-free, and a shutout looked certain.
A late run spared the Yankees that fate. It did little else.
New York dropped a 6-1 decision to the Red Sox on Friday night, managing three hits against a 23-year-old left-hander who had no trouble with a banged-up Bronx lineup. The loss was the Yankees’ sixth in nine games.
The final score avoided the worst of the embarrassment. Two larger problems did not go away with it.
Warren cannot find a swing and miss
The first problem stood on the mound for New York. Will Warren turned in one of his messiest starts of the year, and the numbers told the story before any narrative did.
Warren allowed five runs on seven hits and three walks over 5 2/3 innings. He struck out no one. For a pitcher who has leaned on missing bats, a zero in the strikeout column marked a sharp departure.
The contact came early and often. Boston jumped him in the first when Willson Contreras lined a run-scoring single. The Red Sox added two more in the second. Then Contreras drove a third-inning pitch over the Green Monster, his 17th home run of the season, to push the lead to 4-0.
Warren generated just seven swings and misses on 43 swings, a rate that left little room for escape. He pointed to Boston’s approach when asked about the lack of whiffs.
“They came out aggressive today,” Warren said. “I don’t know how many two-strike counts I had, but I don’t think it was that many, which is fine. Put the ball in play; we’ll get outs that way. They just happened to have some big hits in there, too, that led to some runs.”
It was only the second time in 16 starts that Warren gave up more than three earned runs. The other came May 6 against Texas. His recent trouble with left-handed hitters has become a theme. Over his past seven starts, lefties have lifted their slash line against him to .289/.362/.398 after he held them to .231/.286/.418 across his first nine.
Manager Aaron Boone wants more from his right-hander’s arsenal.
“He’s got to be able to spin it. His changeup needs to be a factor still,” Boone said. “Execution becomes paramount, so both sides of the plate and doing that with lefties, it’s key.”
A frightening Fenway pattern
The second problem is bigger than one start. June at Fenway Park has become a graveyard for these Yankees.
The Yankees are now 1-16 in their last 17 June games at Fenway Park, according to New York Yankees Stats. That figure was not independently confirmed through game logs for this report, but the broader pattern of June struggles in Boston is well established and matched Friday’s result.
The trip has gone sideways at the worst time. New York arrived in Boston already thinned by injuries and left Friday looking nothing like a first-place club. The bats have gone quiet against a Red Sox team sitting last in the AL East at 34-46.
The contrast is stark. The Yankees own the best record in the American League. They cannot solve a struggling opponent on its home turf in June.
Bats go quiet as tempers flare
The night belonged to Tolle, and the Yankees barely tested him. The Boston lefty retired the first 16 hitters he faced before Spencer Jones lined a single to center in the sixth, the only hit the rookie allowed across seven scoreless innings. Tolle struck out seven and walked two.
The rest of the lineup offered little. Jasson Dominguez and Jose Caballero drew two-out walks off Tolle in the seventh, but Jazz Chisholm Jr. flied out to center to strand them. Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger and Amed Rosario went a combined 0 for 11. The Yankees finished with three hits and two walks and went hitless in four at-bats with a runner in scoring position.
The lone run came in the eighth against former Yankee Tommy Kahnle. Anthony Volpe led off with a double, moved to third on a Jones groundout and scored on an Austin Wells groundout. Dominguez added a two-out double in the ninth for New York’s third and final hit.
Behind Warren, the bullpen kept the damage contained. Yerry De los Santos worked a scoreless inning, and Ryan Yarbrough allowed one run over 1 1/3 frames as Boston pushed its lead back to five in the eighth. The Yankees did not commit an error, a small clean note on an otherwise flat night.
The bench-clearing episode
The only spark came in the fifth, and it was not at the plate. After Warren walked Contreras with a pitch up and in, the Boston first baseman flipped his bat and jawed toward the mound as he jogged to first. Contreras had homered 418 feet off Warren earlier in the game. Both benches and bullpens emptied near first base, though no punches followed.
Warren said the exchange was simple.
“He said something, so I said something back,” Warren said. “I’m just trying to make a pitch.”
Umpires issued warnings to both sides, and play resumed with Boston firmly in control. The Yankees, meanwhile, are without much of their thump. Aaron Judge (stress fracture, right rib) and Giancarlo Stanton (right calf strain) visited the clubhouse but remain sidelined, and Trent Grisham (right hamstring strain) is the closest of the group to returning.
Where the Yankees stand now
The standings remain the one comfort. At the halfway mark of the season, the Yankees sit at 48-33, still atop the AL East and still the owners of the best record in the American League.
That cushion is why one ugly night in Boston does not reshape the season. The postseason race still runs through the Bronx. The roster, once healthy, still has the bats to bury a team like the Red Sox.
The chance to stop the slide comes fast. Gerrit Cole takes the mound Saturday against Red Sox left-hander Jake Bennett. For a Yankees club searching for footing in Boston, an ace on the hill is the steadying presence the moment calls for.
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