BOSTON -- After all the madness on defense -- a missed popup by Rafael Devers, an unfortunate double steal against rookie pitcher Brayan Bello, an untimely error by team leader Xander Bogaerts and a three-run Little League home run by Gleyber Torres that had multiple misplays -- the Red Sox were rallying.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, they had a chance to turn the tables on the Yankees, even on a night they had been so charitable. J.D. Martinez hit a 68.2 mph grounder to short. Though not blessed with good footspeed, he avoided hitting into an inning-ending double play and Boston had slimmed the deficit to a run.

Or so it seemed. In 2022, things often aren’t what they seem for the 69-74 Red Sox. The Yankees alertly challenged the play in which replay review revealed an oddity. Martinez beat the throw, but somehow missed the front of the first-base bag and over-ran it without actually touching first at all. It is a play you almost never see no matter how much baseball you watch.

The call was overturned. The run was taken off the board -- one of many daggers in a 5-3 loss to the Yankees in which the Red Sox gave up just one earned run.

“That kind of sums up our season right there, right? Just short throughout the season in certain games,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “He was hustling, that’s all he has there. It’s not a lack of effort. Kind of sums up everything. Just short. We are where we are because we’re short in certain areas and we haven’t been able to finish games.”

After the missed opportunity in the eighth, Abraham Almonte had back-to-back misplays in center and the Yankees added an insurance run to account for the final score.

Without question, the most damaging play of the night was on what should have been an RBI single to right by Torres to break a scoreless tie in the fifth. It turned into so much more.

Alex Verdugo fired the ball back toward the infield, but first baseman Christian Arroyo -- who is still learning the position -- got to his cutoff spot late. The ball rolled sloppily to the third-base side of home plate.

“He got there late,” Cora said of Arroyo. “If he gets there earlier he probably cuts it and we get the out at third base. It’s one of those where he’s learning the position at first. The reaction is different than at second or short. He was just a tad late. The throw was down but we weren’t able to cut it.”

If only the play had ended there. Torres, confused by what had transpired, got caught between first and second and was ready to gift the Red Sox an out.

Catcher Connor Wong would have had Torres by five feet with a good throw to first base, where second baseman Kiké Hernández was alertly covering. Instead, Wong’s throw soared down the right-field line. It was such a surprising turn of events that the ball-girl had to jump off her bucket to make sure the ball didn’t get interfered with. Verdugo made his second throw of the sequence. This time, he hit cutoff man Hernández, but the throw home was just late. Suddenly, it was 3-0, New York.

“Gleyber is way off the base. Just got to make a better throw there and see how the game turns out after that. Have to be better,” said Wong.

This isn’t the first time Bello, Boston’s top pitching prospect, has been the victim of misplays behind him. The 23-year-old clearly deserved a better fate, giving up no earned runs over five innings.

“He was good. Tough lineup,” said Cora. “They controlled the strike zone. He gave us five innings. We didn’t play good defense behind him in that inning and they scored three.”

The one time Bello made a mistake was with one out in the fourth inning, when the Yankees pulled off an aggressive double steal of second and third when Wong was in the middle of throwing the ball back to him.

Bello showed his composure by stranding the runners.

“He keeps growing,” said Cora. “A few curveballs today, that’s part of the mix. He’s doing an outstanding job. He keeps getting better.”