Red Sox make the types of mistakes that will kill them in the postseason

BOSTON — The good news for all the Boston fans without Apple TV who couldn’t watch Red Sox vs. Yankees on Friday night at Fenway Park was that they didn’t miss much that they’d have enjoyed watching.

Their 4-1 loss to the Yankees effectively underlined many of the legitimate concerns about how well the Red Sox are actually built for fall baseball.

Lucas Giolito blamed himself after the game. It was an admirable veteran move from a guy who has given the Red Sox a boost this season. But starting pitching is not the problem. Giolito gave up a solo home run to Aaron Judge in the first inning. But against the best hitter in the sport, giving up a long ball is hardly cause for shame.

Giolito settled down after that and pitched well, certainly well enough to win. He would have escaped the third inning unscathed if not for Carlos Narváez’s sixth catcher’s interference infraction of the season that extended the inning for Clay Bellinger, whose RBI single made it 2-0.

Six catchers’ interferences are an unbelievable total, but it might have actually been Narváez’s seventh. The Yankees wanted a replay of a review of a play in the first, but didn’t alert the umpire quickly enough.

The Yankees challenged Narváez even when he wasn’t getting his glove on their bats. They stole three bases in four attempts against MLB’s leader in throwing out baserunners. That will undoubtedly be in the back of his mind if the teams meet again in the postseason.

Defensively, the Red Sox entered Friday’s game as the only team in the majors with more than 100 errors. They committed three more to reach 108 in 148 games.

“Those are the guys that you gotta keep on kind of bullying. Like bullying them into making bad plays and bullying them into rushing throws, rushing on the field,” Jazz Chisholm said. “Getting their eyes up on you instead of trying to feel the ball and they make a little error.”

But the biggest issue was their offense. After failing to add offense at the trade deadline and losing Roman Anthony, a major concern was that their lineup wasn’t deep enough to succeed against postseason opponents.

On Friday, they couldn’t muster a hit against Luis Gil, who was the poster model for effective wildness. He had four walks, two wild pitches and a balk in six innings, but left with a no-hitter.

The Red Sox had just two hits in the game against a mid-rotation starter for New York. It’s one thing to knock the A’s around Sacramento like they did last week, but it’ll be harder in the playoffs.

This was only one game. The Red Sox might bounce back and score 8 runs on Saturday.

The Yankees pushed their lead to 1½ games in the wild card standings, which could lead to a best-of-three series being played in the Bronx instead of Boston. But not only that, they drew first blood in a series that will create momentum heading into that postseason rematch if it happens.

“I feel like you play well against a team and you see them in the playoffs, you feel a little bit more confident and comfortable when you step in the box, when you step on the field, even when you’re on the bases,” Chisholm said. “I think it’s a big deal for us right now that we’re playing well at the end of the season against them.”

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Red Sox make the types of mistakes that will kill them in the postseason

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