Yankees 4, Red Sox 10: It got late early out there

Earlier today, I pointed out that the Yankees needed Michael Pineda to put together a good start, because the margin of error for Yankees starting pitchers has been so low of late due to their wilting offense. Well, Pineda allowed six runs in the first inning, and that was all the Red Sox would need. Another terrible loss to a terrible team. I think we might have to hope the other teams in contention for the Wild Card lose, rather than the Yankees win, if they're going to actually make the playoffs. Here's how it all went down.

Pineda had absolutely nothing in the first inning. Mookie Betts doubled to start the inning and was singled to third by Dustin Pedroia. A force out by Xander Bogaerts scored Betts, and a David Ortiz double made it second and third with no out. Travis Shaw reached on a fielder's choice that scored Bogaerts and resulted in no outs (I didn't see this play, seems like a disaster, though), and another double, this one by Brock Holt, scored Ortiz. Everyone left on base scored on Blake Swihart's three-run homer, which followed. Just like that, it was 6-0 Red Sox, and I figured we were in for a long night.

The Yankees gave us hope in the bottom of the first, however. Jacoby Ellsbury led off with a double, and a single by Gardner moved him to third. After Alex Rodriguez struck out, Gardner stole second. That steal was key, because Brian McCann hit a tailor-made double play ball next. However, Gardy was not on first, so Ellsbury scored and there was no double play. Dustin Ackley, who has fought his way up the order and was hitting sixth tonight, followed with a two-run home run to make it 6-4, and get Yankees fans back into the game. Unfortunately, that would be all the Yankees would muster all night.

As they typically have done of late, the Yankees picked one inning in which to score all their runs. The last two games, they did it in the first inning. I guess you just want to get those out of the way early and go back to getting out the rest of the way? Pineda settled down nicely, only allowing one run over the next five innings, but the Yankees refused to score. The closest they came was with two on and two out in the bottom of the fourth, when Ellsbury hit a ball that was caught by Holt up against the right field fence. Just a few more feet, and the Yankees would have taken a 7-6 lead. Instead, they still trailed 6-4.

The Sox tacked on a seventh run to lead off the fifth on a home run by Betts, and Swihart put it away with another homer, this one a two-run blast to right against Bryan Mitchell. Bless Mitchell's heart, he just hasn't been very good at all this year. The Yankees, meanwhile, did their usual routine of threatening a rally but not actually scoring. They had a man on in the second, two on in the fourth (as mentioned above), and one on in the seventh, but brought no more runs home.

Chris Martin came in to pitch the ninth, allowing a run to make it 10-4 Red Sox, and the Yankees went scoreless in the ninth–while leaving Greg Bird on first base–to end it. Another terrible showing by the Bombers, as they desperately cling to that Wild Card lead. Let's get the regular season over with already, shall we? The Yankees will try again tomorrow at 7:05 EST when Masahiro Tanaka will take the mound against Wade Miley.