Yankees find worst way to lose yet in choke job vs. rival Red Sox

Over the past three weeks or so, the New York Yankees have shockingly not been strangers to losing. Coming into Friday night's opener in the Bronx against the rival Boston Red Sox, the Yanks had lost 13 of their last 17 and were reeling. But for 8.2 innings at Yankees Stadium, it seemed like they might be righting the ship against their biggest rivals.

Turns out, they were just setting fans up for the most pain they've experienced in this losing skid yet.

The Yankees had a 3-1 lead going into the top of the ninth inning with closer Clay Holmes coming onto the mound. New York hadn't played exceptionally but took advantage of several Red Sox errors and some good fortune. Holmes then looked like he was about to shut the door. Rafael Devers grounded out, then Connor Wong did the same. That brought up pinch hitter Dom Smith.

Smith singled up the middle but, you know, no harm, no foul. Still two outs and Masataka Yoshida coming to the plate. And quickly, Holmes got ahead of the Red Sox DH 0-2 in the count. Might as well call it curtains.

Now the stage is set for an unmitigated disaster.

Yankees lose most painful game yet, even worse, it was to the Red Sox

Credit to Yoshida, he absolutely battled to stay in the at-bat against Holmes. He took close pitches outside the zone, fouled off good pitches that could've been strikes, then eventually worked the count to 3-2. Then, when Holmes left a sinker a bit over the middle of the plate, Yoshida struck with a 400-foot moonshot to right field, bringing Smith and himself in to tie up the game.

The Red Sox didn't win it there but did force extra innings with a hapless Yankees offensive half-inning where they were shut down quickly by Justin Slaten. Thus, David Hamilton started the top of the 10th on second base, a threat to run as the ghost runner. He didn't have to, however, because Ceddanne Rafaela tattooed a middle-middle fastball from Tommy Kahnle to dead-center for a two-run go-ahead home run.

Kenley Jansen then came out and, though he let Juan Soto on base, he got Aaron Judge and Alex Verdugo to pop up for easy outs before getting Oswaldo Cabrera to hit into the game-winning groundout, a 5-3 victory for the Red Sox and the 14th loss for the Yankees in 18 games.

That, in itself, is painful. But if you need to know how keenly this one stung for Yankees fans, listen to the crowd in the Bronx after both the Yoshida and Rafaela home runs. On the first to tie the game, it felt like the oxygen had been removed entirely and that you could hear a pin drop. And really, almost every fan in the building may have known it was over then. They booed Holmes at the end of the inning and the energy never really returned.

Whatever energy was remaining, though, definitely went by the wayside after Rafaela's homer. It was either empty seats or shocked faces filling the stands of Yankee Stadium after that.

When things are going bad, they can snowball into going truly terribly. That latter part feels like where the Yankees are at right now. Going on a poor streak losing 13-of-17 is bad but it's even worse when you're down to the last strike up two runs to the club's biggest rival and then lose 5-3. It's the type of loss that a team feels for a bit, and that's the last thing the Bronx Bombers need right now.