As you watched the Red Sox engaged with the Yankees in a tight, low-scoring affair on Sunday afternoon in the Bronx, you had to keep some concern in the back of your mind that Boston would eventually run out of arms.
You just assumed that would be happening after Justin Slaten and Aroldis Chapman finished their work.
Alas, for the second time in the past 16 days, Slaten served up a game-losing homer.
This time, it was Cody Bellinger smashing a 1-0 cutter over the heart of the plate into the bleachers in right field and giving the Yankees a 2-1 lead in the eighth. Slaten gave up another run before exiting with two runners aboard, and Joe La Sorsa — making his Red Sox debut after a trade this week from Pittsburgh — immediately served up a three-run homer, thus turning a once-promising afternoon into a painful day in the Bronx.
With the loss, the Red Sox are now 27-36, remaining equidistant to the third wild card and the worst record in baseball. They’re in last place in the AL East, 10.5 games behind the Yankees and Rays, and they’re four games out of that third wild card with five teams between them and that spot.
Here are your three key takeaways from the Yankees’ 6-1 win in New York.
• Ranger Suarez outdueled Cam Schlittler
Cam Schlittler is among a handful of early contenders for the AL Cy Young this year. He dominated the Red Sox back in late April, pitching eight runs and allowing just one run on four hits at Fenway Park. He wasn’t quite that good in this one, but he was still excellent in a bounce-back effort after an ugly one against Cleveland earlier in the week.
But on Sunday afternoon, Ranger Suarez was the better starting pitcher.
Suarez scattered six hits and allowed just one run while striking out six and issuing zero walks over 6.1 innings, and he looked like he could have easily breezed through the seventh if not for an early call to the bullpen from interim manager Chad Tracy. Suarez generated 17 swings-and-misses, effectively mixing his fastball (37 percent), sinker (21 percent), curveball (14 percent) and cutter (13 percent) to keep the Yankees off balance throughout his outing.
Suarez ended his afternoon by getting Jazz Chisholm to chase a high fastball for strike three, Suarez has had his ups and downs this season — the first on a five-year, $130 million deal — but Sunday was certainly among his better outings of the season.
• Justin Slaten takes third loss of season
Justin Slaten ended his 2025 season with six straight scoreless appearances. He didn’t allow an earned run through his first nine appearances this season.
But on May 22 against the Twins, he was tagged for four runs on two homers at Fenway. And on Sunday, he once again got hit with four earned runs while serving up a game-deciding home run in the eighth inning.
This one wasn’t complicated, as Slaten’s 1-0 pitch to Bellinger bisected the plate, and Cody Bellinger was all over it.
For his part, Slaten didn’t mince words postgame.
“[Crap] pitch. Simple as that,” Slaten said. “Just didn’t locate the cutter where I wanted to. I got hit hard.”
While two bad outings wouldn’t quite put Slaten on the list of major concerns about the Red Sox, he has now matched last year’s season total of three home runs allowed. Those were given up over 34 innings (after allowing just four homers in 55.1 innings in his rookie season in 2024), while he’s given up this year’s home run total in just 11.2 innings.
Still, the trio of Slaten, Garrett Whitlock and Chapman was the most reliable part of the Red Sox’ major league roster this season. Yet Slaten missed a month with an oblique strain, Whitlock is currently on the IL with a knee injury, and Chapman is apparently dealing with a hamstring issue, which Tracy revealed on Friday night.
Anyone looking for a silver lining, though, can find it in Tyron Guerrero. The flame-throwing righty entered in relief of Suarez in the seventh and induced a grounder from Jose Caballero before blowing away Spencer Jones with four straight heaters for the final out of the inning.
Jones has limited MLB experience (120 relief appearances) for someone of his age (35), but he’s certainly got plenty of velocity. He threw the seven hardest pitches of the entire ballgame, ranging from 99.9 mph to 102.8 mph, which is quite the feat when Schlittler is on the mound. Sunday was the fourth consecutive scoreless outing for Jones, who will be a weapon out of the bullpen as long as he’s controlling that fastball like he was in his brief appearance on Sunday.
(The counter to the positivity on Jones would be Joe La Sorsa, whose first pitch as a member of the Red Sox was deposited into the bullpen by Chisholm, turning a 3-1 game into a 6-1 blowout.)
• Is Anthony Seigler worth a longer look?
While pitching ended up failing the Red Sox late on Sunday, offense remains their downfall. And with Marcelo Mayer continuing to turn in fruitless at-bat after fruitless at-bat, newcomer Anthony Seigler made a case for some more playing time on Sunday.
Seigler worked a walk in his first plate appearance against Schlittler, confidently winning an ABS challenge on a high cutter out of the zone. Mayer followed with a popout.
In his next trip to the plate, Seigler capped off a six-pitch at-bat with a double to left field, threatening on second as the first run of the game … but Mayer followed up with a groundout to second.
The 26-year-old Seigler is a former catcher who has since moved to second base, and he came to the Red Sox along with Caleb Durbin and Andruw Monasterio in what’s looking like it will be known as The Infamous Kyle Harrison Trade™. He struggled in very limited action at the MLB level last year, hitting .194 with a .502 OPS in just 62 at-bats. But he’s hit well with Triple-A Worcester this season, batting .298 with an .896 OPS, thanks to seven doubles, a triple and three homers. He most certainly wouldn’t be the answer to any of the Red Sox’ issues, but with Mayer now hitting .218 with a .570 OPS (and a .189 average and .222 slugging percentage over his last 30 games), and with Durbing hitting better of late, Tracy may feel inclined to pencil in Seigler a few more times to see if Sunday’s solid plate appearances were a promising sign of things to come.
