Frustrated Yanks settle for split at Fenway

BOSTON -- The splitter sailed inside to Giancarlo Stanton, who seemed to consider making an in-game tribute to Bo Jackson by shattering his bat across his right quadriceps. Instead, Aaron Boone took up the fight, raising six fingers from the top step of Fenway Park’s third-base dugout.

That seventh-inning message -- an open right palm and left thumb directed at home-plate umpire Tripp Gibson -- was clear: one digit for every pitch the Yankees manager believed should have been a ball in that at-bat. Boone was tossed and watched the rest of Sunday night's contest from the visitors’ clubhouse, an 11-6 Yankees loss to the Red Sox.

• Box score

“When you win the first two, you want to finish off with a great series,” Boone said as the Bombers absorbed their four-game split at Fenway. “They got behind again tonight and kept banging, and took advantage of some mistakes we made. So it’s a little frustrating in the moment.”

Even before Boone was ejected for the fourth time this year (the third time during or after an at-bat involving Stanton or Aaron Judge), there were complaints. Still owning a comfortable first-place seat in the American League East, New York concluded a four-city, 10-game trip to Houston, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Boston with a 5-5 record that it felt should have been better.

• Highlights from thrilling weekend series

Jameson Taillon struggled for the fourth consecutive start, handing back a pair of four-run leads as he was knocked for six runs over five innings, including three homers. Taillon has permitted 20 earned runs over his last 21 innings, a stretch that includes matchups against winning clubs in the Red Sox and Astros, but also sub-.500 opponents in the A’s and Pirates.

“I’m taking it on the chin right now,” Taillon said. “I’m in The Twilight Zone. I keep saying the same thing, and the same types of mistakes keep happening. It feels pretty bad. You get spotted a nice lead by the offense, they come out and attack. That should be pretty much a guaranteed win. I should go much deeper in the game.”

Taillon’s recent woes may spike the Yankees’ interest in trading for a starter in advance of the Aug. 2 Trade Deadline -- with Luis Castillo and the cellar-dwelling Reds coming into Yankee Stadium this week, expect to hear the right-hander’s name frequently mentioned, especially when Castillo faces the Yanks on Thursday. Oakland’s Frankie Montas is also considered one of the more appealing options, though he’s currently day to day with right shoulder soreness.

Between Taillon’s issues and workload concerns about All-Star left-hander Nestor Cortes and right-hander Luis Severino, the Yanks may aim to find coverage for more innings -- even with right-hander Domingo Germán proclaiming himself ready to face big league competition after a solid four-inning Minor League rehab start on Saturday. For now, they’ll attempt to right what is ailing Taillon; he says the issue is command more than stuff.

“I think it really comes down to, when guys are on base, making the right pitch to the right area,” Taillon said. “We’re putting the wrong pitch in the wrong area far too often. Missing with a slider over the middle, maybe getting beat on my worst pitch -- it happened twice tonight, changeup and a cutter. Those are the types of pitches that I don’t execute that are going to keep me up.”

The 11 runs permitted on Sunday were a season-high for the Yankees, who haven’t endured many such thumpings in a season where their run differential remains a staggering +175. The at-bats produced against Nick Pivetta, with Stanton slugging a 114 mph missile for a homer and Matt Carpenter also going deep as part of a six-run pounding over the first three innings.

Taillon couldn’t make it last. Franchy Cordero hit a two-run shot in the second inning, Christian Vázquez slugged a solo blast in the third and J.D. Martinez delivered the big blow, a two-run shot that tied the game at 6 in the fifth.

Boston pushed ahead in the sixth, taking advantage as two bloops off Aroldis Chapman eluded second baseman DJ LeMahieu in the outfield, dropping as right fielder Aaron Judge and center fielder Aaron Hicks looked on.

“I’m thinking off the bat, it’s a tough play, and I’m hoping the outfielder gets a good read on it,” LeMahieu said. “Either of those plays, I don’t think the outfielder could have probably gotten them. I think I was probably the only guy that had a chance at them.”

Said Boone: “A couple of tough chances on some bloopers that we didn’t convert.”

By the time Trevor Story’s three-run double thumped off the Green Monster in the seventh, Boone was already watching from the television in his office. After winning the first two games of the series, Boone would have preferred that his team be greedy and finish the weekend in style. This would have to do.

“I think we played well enough to win four,” LeMahieu said. “I guess two is all right. We’ll see these guys in a few days.”