How the Red Sox’s season slipped away: Defensive lapses cost Boston in fateful fourth inning vs. Yankees

NEW YORK — Defense was supposed to be the fix. That was what the Red Sox chased all season. Last year, the team was buried — second-to-last in the majors with 115 errors. Only the Marlins had more, at 117. So Alex Bregman was acquired, Rafael Devers was slid to DH, then eventually traded. Trevor Story stayed healthy, which allowed Ceddanne Rafaela to be moved back to center, where a Gold Glove will likely be won.

By the numbers, Boston’s outfield was rated the best in baseball, racking up 52 defensive runs saved. But defensive metrics can be tricky because the full story isn’t told. They can be flawed. And if the Red Sox are watched long enough, their defensive flaws are seen, too.

So in Game 3 of the Wild Card, under the lights in the Bronx, mistakes piled up again. In a blink, the season was gone, sealed by a 4-0 loss. The rival Yankees scored all four runs in the fourth inning. 

Red Sox rookie starter Connelly Early entered the top of the fourth inning with just 45 pitches, going toe-to-toe with fellow rookie Cam Schlittler, who would eventually turn in eight scoreless frames and 12 strikeouts. The most by a Yankee rookie in postseason history.

“We needed to be perfect tonight because he was perfect,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said after the game.

In a 0-0 game, Yankees‘ Cody Bellinger worked the count to 3-2. On the sixth pitch of the at-bat, a fly ball was lofted to right-center field. It dropped in for a double, beginning a nose dive from which the Red Sox could not recover.

“I think Wilyer broke back, right, with a swing,” added Cora. “Just somebody, right? They have to make that play. With the swing, he didn’t get a good jump and it just landed there. That’s a play we make.”

Yet it was a play that Abreu sometimes struggled with.

The ball landed in short right-center, bouncing off the glove of the diving Rafaela. Abreu, indeed, broke back — not for the first time. More on that later. A direct angle was had to the ball but he pulled up once Rafaela was seen.

“That was a tough play,” Abreu said. “It was in between us. We were playing very far away so we couldn’t get there.”

Not quite.

Abreu, who won a Gold Glove last year, has often been guilty of over-committing. And it is done too soon. His internal clock has lacked feel and timing. While many balls are reached diagonally, going back or charging in has been a struggle. On this play, instead of patience and a proper read, a commitment backward was made immediately. The safe move, of course, is always to take a step back. Getting burned on a ball in is far worse — a double over your head more times than not. But this has happened to Abreu way too often. Just look at the play last week against the Tigers, the final series of the season.

Parker Meadows hit a weak fly ball off the end of the bat. A ball that should have been caught. But again, Abreu’s aggressive commitment back allowed it to drop in for a single.

Then there is the Rafaela element. Typically, great reads and jumps are made, relying more on feel than calculation. The outfield is played like a cornerback in football — freakish athletic ability with a knack for covering ground quickly.

But a banana route was taken this time. Almost in a semi-circle before the line was corrected. Neither of them called the ball.

“I just gave my all to catch that ball,” Rafaela said. “I saw that Willie didn’t maybe have a chance, so I gave it my all to catch that ball.”

Communication issues in the outfield plagued the Red Sox all season. And, in part, Rafaela was expected to catch everything.

Go back to the late August matchup against the Orioles. A ball in left field should have been caught by Jarren Duran, but Rafaela was expected to take it, so it dropped between them.

The Red Sox finished just outside the top 10 in DRS. The left side of the infield was shored up. Center field improved. And still, the majors were led in errors with 116 — one more than last year. The final run-scoring play of the Red Sox season came on an error as first baseman Nathaniel Lowe botched a grounder off the bat of Ben Rice.

Those lapses are the reason the packing up is being done early, the team headed home as October begins.

“Obviously, we should feel the way we feel right now, because we had bigger goals,” Cora said. “But when we have time to reflect on how we did things this year, this is what the Boston Red Sox are, it’s a good group.”

Just not good enough in Game 3.