NEW YORK — The New York Yankees walked to the plate in the bottom of the ninth Tuesday night with their season on the line. They trailed the Boston Red Sox 3-1, but three straight singles loaded the bases with nobody out and the Bronx shaking with hope.
Instead of a storybook rally, they produced a nightmare.
The Yankees became the first team in Major League Baseball postseason history to load the bases with none out in the bottom of the ninth and fail to score in a loss. The collapse sealed Boston’s 3-1 victory in Game 1 of the American League Wild Card Series at Yankee Stadium.
The defeat leaves New York one game from elimination. Since the wild card format switched to a best-of-three in 2022, no team has come back from dropping Game 1 to win the series.
How Yankees’ ninth inning unraveled
Paul Goldschmidt opened the inning with a single to right. Aaron Judge followed with another hit, and Cody Bellinger dropped a single into left center. Just like that, the Yankees had the bases full, the tying run on second, and the go-ahead run on first.
The roar of the crowd echoed as Aroldis Chapman stood on the mound under maximum pressure.
Giancarlo Stanton had the first chance to be the hero. Instead, he struck out swinging. Jazz Chisholm Jr., who had been inserted late for defense, lifted a soft fly to shallow right for the second out. That left Trent Grisham, who had already struck out three times, to save the night. Chapman overpowered him again with a fastball.
Game over. The Stadium fell silent.
The Yankees went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and wasted the golden chance of the night with three consecutive outs.
Cora outmaneuvers Boone again
The Yankees won 94 games during the regular season, five more than Boston, and earned home field for this series. But October once again belonged to Alex Cora.
The Red Sox manager improved to 5-1 against the Yankees in postseason matchups across three different years. His overall playoff record now sits at 18-8, highlighted by Boston’s 2018 run to a World Series crown.
Aaron Boone, meanwhile, followed the standard script in the seventh inning. He pulled Max Fried after 102 pitches and one out, trying to preserve a 1-0 lead.
“I came in the dugout and Boonie looked at me and said, ‘How you feeling?’ I said good,” Fried said. “He said, ‘You got enough for Duran?’ And I said yeah, whatever you need.”
Boone turned to Luke Weaver. The move backfired.
Cora, by contrast, leaned hard on his ace. Garrett Crochet threw a career-high 117 pitches, striking out 11 and keeping the Yankees off balance for 7 2/3 innings. He ended his night blowing away Austin Wells before handing the ball to Chapman.
The decisive seventh inning
The game swung when Ceddanne Rafaela fouled off pitch after pitch against Luke Weaver before drawing an 11-pitch walk. Moments later, Eric Sogard ripped a drive into the right-center gap. Judge’s weakened arm gave Sogard time to stretch it into a double.
Two runners stood in scoring position with one out. Weaver had to remain in under the three-batter minimum rule. That set up the matchup Cora wanted.
Masataka Yoshida, who had sat on the bench all night, stepped in as a pinch hitter. The lefty wasted no time, lining a Weaver fastball into center to bring home both runs. Boston went up 2-1.
The Red Sox added another run in the ninth when Alex Bregman doubled a runner home, giving Chapman a two-run cushion for the final frame.
“Rice was there. It is not that I don’t trust Whitlock against him, but I trust Chappy against the righties,” Cora said, explaining why Chapman, not Garrett Whitlock, pitched the ninth.
Platoon decisions fall flat
The Yankees’ pregame lineup choices stirred debate. Boone opted for Paul Goldschmidt, Amed Rosario, and Jose Caballero in the starting lineup to offset Crochet’s left-handed power. That meant Ben Rice, Jazz Chisholm Jr., and Ryan McMahon opened on the bench.
The strategy produced little. Outside of Goldschmidt’s hit in the first inning, the three replacement bats went 0-for-7. Rosario, who had entered the game hitting .667 lifetime against Crochet, grounded out three times.
Trent Grisham, given the start in spite of the difficult left-on-left matchup, went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts.
The defensive alignments did pay off. Rosario turned an unassisted double play in the sixth. Caballero made a charging play to cut down Alex Bregman in the fifth and save two runs.
Elimination game looms
Carlos Rodón will take the ball for New York in Game 2 against Boston right-hander Brayan Bello. The Yankees are expected to reinsert Chisholm, McMahon and Rice against a right-handed starter.
But Bello has dominated at Yankee Stadium, posting a 1.44 ERA in five career starts in the Bronx. With Boston holding a 1-0 series lead, the odds are stacked against the Yankees. No team has erased that deficit since the format was adopted.
For New York, everything now rides on a win Wednesday. Otherwise, Tuesday’s ninth-inning collapse — three singles, three runners on, no outs, no runs — may define the season.
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