Justin Turner pulverized the Yankees for two home runs and six RBIs over the first three innings, but their defensive play also was a disaster in an ugly 15-5 loss to the Red Sox on Friday night.
The Yankees officially were charged with two errors in their eyesore of a defeat at Fenway Park, but they also committed at least three other noteworthy defensive mistakes in getting blown out in the opener of a three-game series.
“We didn’t play well tonight. … Overall we just didn’t play a very clean game,” manager Aaron Boone said. “There’s a handful of plays, and a couple of them, there’s some nuance to them, but it’s going to happen to you, where you don’t have a clean game.
“That’s been one of the hallmarks of this team so far, and you never like it, but it also happens, where you’re not gonna make all the plays. And tonight was a game that we didn’t.”
Right fielder Jake Bauers and second baseman Gleyber Torres committed throwing errors that directly resulted in late Boston runs, but clear misplays by Josh Donaldson at third base and Anthony Rizzo at first easily could have been designated as E’s, but were scored as base hits.
Lefty reliever Matt Krook, making his major league debut, also failed to cover first base during a grounder on which Rizzo went far to his right to field in the third inning.
That allowed Alex Verdugo to reach safely with what also was scored a hit.
“I’m upset about that. I needed to get over [to first base]. Anytime the ball goes to the right side, I gotta be over there,” Krook said afterward.
The Donaldson miscue — a fumble on a transfer of the ball from his glove — and Krook’s failure to cover came ahead of Turner’s grand slam in that inning.
“I needed that Turner at-bat, needed to finish the inning and do my job,” Krook said.
“I caught it and when I went to grab the ball, it just slipped out of my hands. It’s a play I should make,” Donaldson added.
Bauers overthrew third base on Connor Wong’s single to right in the fourth, allowing Triston Casas to score.
Torres’ errant fling on Casas’ infield single in the seventh allowed Masataka Yoshida to come home to make it a 14-4 game.
“We have to figure it out and play better,” Torres said. “Play to win, play better baseball. Try not to make the mistakes we made tonight and help our pitchers. We didn’t play really good baseball and we have to play better. Don’t try to make as many mistakes as we made.”