Yankees’ Bullpen Collapses in Eighth, Red Sox Steal the Series
For seven innings, it looked like the Yankees had the formula figured out — good pitching, solid defense, just enough offense to hold a lead.
Then came the eighth inning, and with it, another chapter in a summer of bullpen heartbreak.
Reliever Calvin Reyes entered with a 3–1 cushion and a packed house humming. Four batters later, it was 4–3 Red Sox, the crowd silent except for the pockets of Boston fans celebrating behind the visitors’ dugout.
The Meltdown
It started innocently enough — a leadoff walk, then another. Reyes tried to paint corners but couldn’t find the zone. Both free passes came after getting ahead in the count, the kind of lapses that make coaches shake their heads.
With Rafael Devers due up, the Yankees stuck with their setup man, hoping for a ground ball. Instead, Reyes hung a slider over the heart of the plate, and Devers didn’t miss. The ball jumped off his bat and disappeared into the right-field bleachers before anyone had time to exhale.
“Execution, not effort,” manager Aaron Boone said postgame. “He had the right pitch, just missed the spot. In this league, you don’t get away with that.”
The Turning Point
The sequence that changed everything came in micro-moments — and they tell the story better than the box score.
In the 8th, Reyes got ahead 0–2 on Devers, two sliders low and away. Then came four straight balls, each one creeping a little higher, a little more uncertain. That hesitation flipped the inning.
Once Devers worked back to even, the next pitch — a hanging slider — felt inevitable. Momentum didn’t just shift; it sprinted across the field.
Missed Chances
The Yankees had their opportunities earlier. They stranded seven runners, including two in scoring position in the fifth after Judge doubled off the wall. Gleyber Torres’ deep fly in the sixth would’ve been gone in most parks but died at the track.
It’s been the recurring theme all month: early control, late unraveling. The bullpen, once a strength, has become an unpredictable variable.
What It Means
The loss tightens the AL East race, pulling the Red Sox within two games and giving them the season series edge for now. For the Yankees, it’s less about the standings and more about trust — the kind that’s earned pitch by pitch in the final innings of summer.
Boston, meanwhile, continues to look like the team that believes it can steal any game, no matter the score or the moment.
“They didn’t beat us early,” Devers said after the game, smiling. “They gave us one chance. That’s all we needed.”
The rivalry’s next round comes in September, and if this series was any preview, buckle up — the margins are razor-thin, and the momentum swings are brutal.
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