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Sign Up NowNo matter how good the Yankees bullpen looked down the stretch, they had inflicted enough pain during the course of the regular season to induce nightmares about what might happen in October.
The Yankees could not wake up from such a night terror on Tuesday, though their bullpen was not the only unit responsible for that.
After Max Fried carried a gem into the seventh inning, hanging on to a one-run lead, Luke Weaver relieved him and quickly flushed it away, resulting in a tense 3-1 loss to the Red Sox in Game 1 of the AL wild-card series in The Bronx.
Weaver had no room for error because Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet was in the midst of a dominant night, throwing 7 2/3 innings of one-run ball while striking out 11.
Crochet passed the baton to former Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman, who finished off the eighth before giving up three straight singles on three straight pitches to Paul Goldschmidt, Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger to lead off the ninth.
Giancarlo Stanton, the author of so many epic postseason at-bats, could not deliver another as he struck out on four pitches.
Jazz Chisholm Jr., who had entered the game in the top of the eighth, flew out to right field, not deep enough to score Goldschmidt from third.
Chapman then struck out Trent Grisham on a 101.2 mph heater to end it in dramatic fashion, putting the Yankees’ season on life support entering Wednesday’s Game 2.
They will have to fare better against Brayan Bello, who has mostly had their number until the last time they saw him in mid-September.
After giving up a solo home run to Anthony Volpe in the second inning, Crochet retired 17 straight Yankees before Volpe singled with one out in the eighth inning.