Yankees unable to get a runner past first base, suffer another loss to Red Sox

Aaron Boone said before Friday night’s game against the Red Sox that “there’s no reason to think” that despite his recent struggles, Max Fried cannot get on a good run.

Fried rewarded his manager’s confidence with six shutout innings, a performance Boone and company hope can spark the lefthander’s return to ace form. The problem for the Yankees on Friday? A lifeless night offensively.

They were limited to three singles and a walk by the Red Sox and didn’t get a runner past first base in a 1-0 loss, their ninth shutout defeat of the season, in front of a sellout crowd of 46,064 at the Stadium.

Brayan Bello (10-6, 3.07 ERA) was dominant for seven innings, Garrett Whitlock pitched a perfect eighth and Aroldis Chapman earned his 24th save in a no-sweat ninth for Boston. Bello also shut down the Yankees for seven innings in a 2-0 win on June 15. The Yankees sent only 29 batters to the plate, two more than the minimum, and Boston retired 11 straight to end the game.

“[Bello] was really sharp,” Boone said. “Even his misses were just off, so it looked like he was on the edges with everything and really both sides of the plate.”

Ben Rice, who had a first-inning single, grounded into a double play in the third after Trent Grisham’s one-out single. Austin Wells led off the sixth with a single but was doubled off first on Grisham’s lineout to shortstop Trevor Story.

“Can’t get doubled off there,” Boone said.

Paul Goldschmidt, pinch hitting for Wells, led off the ninth with a 4-3 groundout. Grisham and Rice then struck out swinging, leaving Aaron Judge (0-for-3) in the on-deck circle.

Mark Leiter Jr. erased Fried’s steady showing by allowing the game’s only run in the seventh on consecutive one-out doubles by pinch hitter Nathaniel Lowe and No. 9 hitter Connor Wong, whose two hits lifted his season batting average to .189.

The Yankees (69-59) fell to 1-7 in the season series against Boston (70-59), which beat them for the seventh straight time and hopped a half-game ahead of them for the American League’s top wild card. The Yankees fell 5 1⁄2 games behind AL East-leading Toronto (75-54).

“I don’t like losing to them,” Boone said. “I don’t like losing to anyone. Never want to lose to the Sox, and they’ve had our number here for this stretch, and we get a chance to change that tomorrow.”

Fried allowed four hits, walked three and struck out seven. It was his seventh start in which he went six innings-plus and allowed no earned runs, second in MLB to Detroit’s Tarik Skubal (10), according to researcher Katie Sharp. He threw 99 pitches and was pulled for Leiter (5-7, 4.14) after a 1-2-3, seven-pitch sixth.

Boone said there was no consideration for Fried to come back out for the seventh despite having Boston’s bottom of the lineup due up.

“They’re a good team,” Fried said. “They’ve been playing some good baseball. When it comes to Red Sox-Yankees, everyone wants to bring out their best. So you know that everyone’s going to be on top of it and everyone’s really just grinding to get a win.”

Devin Williams threw a perfect eighth, but the Yankees went down in order in the bottom half. Giancarlo Stanton, batting for Ryan McMahon, struck out on three pitches to end the inning.

The Yankees and David Bednar were fortunate to escape the ninth. After Jarren Duran walked and stole second, Anthony Volpe fielded Ceddanne Rafaela’s grounder and inexcusably and unsuccessfully threw behind Duran at second, allowing Rafaela to reach safely. Jasson Dominguez then caught a fly to leftfield but fired to third instead of second, allowing both runners to advance. With the infield in, Volpe fielded Wong’s grounder and threw Duran out at the plate before Masataka Yoshida grounded out to end the inning.

Fried went 10-2 with a 1.92 ERA and 0.94 WHIP in his first 17 starts this season, averaging 6.4 innings per start. In the following eight starts? He was 3-3 with a 6.80 ERA and 1.59 WHIP, averaging 5.1 innings per start.

In his most recent start, he allowed a season-high seven runs and a season high-tying eight hits (for the third consecutive start) in five innings.

Said Fried: “It was definitely a good one to get back on track.”

Notes & quotes: Volpe is hitless in his last 12 at-bats and is in an 8-for-63 slump (.127), but Boone said he has not sensed a loss of confidence. “We’ve got to get him going again offensively,” Boone said. “But no, I think he’s in the right frame.”

By Ben Dickson

benjamin.dickson@newsday.com@bendickson__

Ben Dickson is Newsday Sports' general assignment reporter. He joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.