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The Yankees got plenty of “traffic,” as Aaron Boone likes to say, on Sunday night.
What they didn’t get was enough big hits to make Boston pay for all those base runners and it proved to be too much to overcome in a 4-3 loss in The Bronx, as the Yankees failed to complete a season-opening three-game sweep of their rivals.
In a third straight game decided by two runs or less, they left multiple runners in scoring position in the first, third and fifth innings. And although the bullpen pitched well again, a Bobby Dalbec homer off Clarke Schmidt in the sixth proved to be the deciding blow on a chilly night at the Stadium, where it was 48 degrees at first pitch.
They had the heart of the lineup up in the bottom of the ninth and Aaron Judge started it with an 11-pitch at-bat against Jake Diekman before he struck out. Giancarlo Stanton followed by whiffing, as well, leaving only the struggling Joey Gallo between the Yankees and their first defeat of the young season.
And predictably, Gallo fanned to end the game.
The night nearly got off to a disastrous start for the Yankees and Jordan Montgomery, who was making his first start of the year.
The lefty was drilled in the leg by a Xander Bogaerts comebacker and writhed on the ground in pain for several minutes before taking the mound again after several warm-up pitches to face J.D. Martinez.
After getting ahead of Martinez, 1-2, Montgomery went to a full count before Martinez laced an RBI double down the left-field line to give Boston a 1-0 lead.
Montgomery then hit Dalbec with an 0-2 curveball to load the bases and draw a visit from pitching coach Matt Blake.
Christian Arroyo followed with a sacrifice fly to right to make it 2-0, but Isiah Kiner-Falefa made a nice play to his left on an Alex Verdugo grounder to avoid further damage.
The Yankees offense threatened in the bottom of the inning against right-hander Tanner Houck, with a one-out walk by Anthony Rizzo and a line-drive single by Judge to put runners on the corners for Stanton. Stanton lined to second and Gallo, after falling behind 0-2, drew a walk to load the bases.
But Gleyber Torres flied out to left to end the inning.
Montgomery shook off the leg injury and cruised through the next two innings, as the Yankees got back in the game in the bottom of the third.
Rizzo led off with a four-pitch walk and Judge followed with a bloop single down the right-field line. Stanton knocked in Rizzo with a base hit to left to get the Yankees to within 2-1.
Gallo lined to right for the first out before Torres was hit by a pitch to load the bases, but Aaron Hicks grounded into a double play for another wasted opportunity.
The Red Sox tacked on another run on a Jonathan Arauz sacrifice fly after Montgomery was yanked with two on and one out, replaced by Schmidt.
In the bottom of the inning, Kiner-Falefa got his first hit as a Yankee with a leadoff double and Jose Trevino followed with his first hit, a single to center.
Josh Donaldson then struck out looking for the third time against Houck.
Ryan Brasier came in to face Rizzo, threw a wild pitch and then gave up a two-run single to center that tied the game at 3-3.
A Stanton single and one-out double by Torres off the wall in right-center set up Hicks again in the fifth.
But Hicks popped out, eliciting some boos, and Kiner-Falefa struck out on a questionable check swing to keep the game tied, as the Yankees left eight runners on base in the first five innings.
Boston went ahead in the sixth, as Dalbec led off with an opposite-field shot.
The Yankees got the leadoff hitter on in both the seventh and eighth and stranded both at first.
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