The New York Yankees lost to the Boston Red Sox for the third straight day — and eighth straight time this season — on Saturday at Yankee Stadium, and this loss took things to another level of bad baseball.
Boston won the game 12-1 and scored seven runs in the top of the ninth inning. The boos got loud as Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe — who has already been heavily criticized to begin with — threw the ball away with two outs in the ninth, allowing a run to score and making it a 9-1 game.
The New York Yankees are getting absolutely embarrassed by their arch-rival the Boston Red Sox on their own field pic.twitter.com/L8BewLKHPI
— Talkin’ Yanks (@TalkinYanks) August 23, 2025
The next batter would feature a balk from Paul Blackburn to allow in another run, followed by a two-run homer from Carlos Narváez.
Michael Kay: “It can’t get much worse than this.”
Paul O’Neill: “Every once in a while, you get embarrassed on the field… The Yankees have absolutely fallen apart…”
Kay: “Quite frankly, the Yankees are getting schooled by the Red Sox…” ⚾️🎙️ #MLB pic.twitter.com/9mVlJKGWs1
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 23, 2025
“It can’t get much worse than this,” Yankees play-by-play announcer Michael Kay said on the YES Network broadcast.
“Every once in a while, you get embarrassed on the field,” analyst Paul O’Neill responded. “And this game has just snowballed. [Red Sox starting pitcher Garrett Crochet] was the thing you had to get through, and he was just too good. But then the Yankees have just absolutely fallen apart here in the last couple of innings.”
Kay, O’Neill, and analyst David Cone spoke about how Yankees manager Aaron Boone had chosen to “punt” the game by leaving in Blackburn, who finished with seven earned runs allowed and 71 pitches thrown over 3 1/3 innings.
“Obviously, in this situation, Aaron Boone doesn’t want to waste any more pitches for tomorrow’s game,” Cone said. “So, hence ‘punt.’ Not a good look. Fans don’t like it.”
“You can see Boone pointing to Blackburn, asking him if his arm is okay,” Cone added after Blackburn walked Boston’s Roman Anthony.
After Blackburn finally got out of the inning, Kay bluntly summarized the day for the Yankees.
“This will mercifully end the inning,” Kay said. “And quite frankly, the Yankees are getting schooled by the Red Sox on this Saturday afternoon in the Bronx.”
Even with the three straight losses, the Yankees would still have the second American League Wild Card slot right now with a 69-60 record. However, the Red Sox (71-59) have moved 1.5 games ahead of the Yankees for the first Wild Card seed.
Boston will try to complete a four-game sweep at Yankee Stadium on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball.
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.