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Try it freeBOSTON — So much for stepping on necks.
A night after Jazz Chisholm Jr. said that was what the Yankees were coming to do down the stretch, they had an opportunity to actually do it by finishing off a sweep of the Red Sox.
Instead, Will Warren dug them an early hole that they could not climb all the way out of, ending an otherwise strong weekend with a 6-4 loss to the Red Sox on Sunday night at Fenway Park.
Warren got ambushed for six runs in the bottom of the first while Garrett Crochet struck out 12 across six innings, allowing the Red Sox (82-68) to salvage the finale and pull back within 1 1/2 games of the Yankees (83-66) for the top AL wild card.
The Yankees, despite making things interesting late, dropped to four games back of the Blue Jays in the AL East with 13 to play.
Their chances of winning the division are getting slimmer by the day, now having to make up five games because the Blue Jays own the tiebreaker – making it even likelier the Yankees could end up seeing the Red Sox again in the wild card series.
Sunday marked the end of the Yankees’ 12-game gauntlet against four playoff teams, which they came out 7-5 – a record anyone would have signed up for going into it, even if it ended on a sour note.