BOSTON — For nine innings Friday night, there was drama between the Yankees and Red Sox, especially Aaron Judge and Garrett Crochet.
In the top of the 10th, it was drama between the Yankees and the umpires.
After Judge crushed a game-tying homer off Crochet in the top of the ninth, a pair of calls went against the Yankees in the top of the 10th before they got walked off in the bottom of the inning for a 2-1 loss on Friday night at a sold-out Fenway Park.
Ex-Yankee Carlos Narváez won it for the Red Sox (35-36) in the bottom of the 10th with a walk-off single off the Green Monster against lefty Tim Hill, sending 36,622 into a frenzy after Judge had silenced them by breaking up Crochet’s shutout an inning earlier.
In between, Aaron Boone and DJ LeMahieu were ejected in the top of the 10th as frustrations boiled over regarding a foul ball off the bat of LeMahieu.
The Yankees (42-26) insisted the line drive down the first-base line was fair and challenged the play, but the call on the field stood after a lengthy review.
“Fair ball down the line that they miss in real time and don’t have the courage to overturn,” a still-heated Boone said afterward. “I want the courage to overturn the call that a quarter of the ball is on the line. It takes a lot of something — a lot of imagination to say that’s [foul].
“Whatever. It’s over with. Not saying we score there, [but] in the end, they outlasted us tonight.”
When it was announced the call on the field stood, Boone stepped out of the dugout to voice his displeasure, then took out his gum and threw it in the direction of home plate umpire John Tumpane, who quickly gave him the hook.
After LeMahieu grounded out to end the inning, he said he told first base umpire Jeremie Rehak he made a “brutal call,” which got him ejected for the first time in his career.
“Obviously frustrating because we were fighting for baserunners right there,” LeMahieu said.
The Yankees lost their automatic baserunner earlier in the inning when Anthony Volpe was thrown out trying to steal third with no outs and Jasson Domínguez at the plate.
Volpe initially was called safe before the Red Sox challenged and got the call overturned.
Asked if he was OK with Volpe running in that situation, Boone was defiant.
“Oh, hell yeah! You’re not?” Boone said. “Yeah. The only reason he’s out is he kind of gets caught on the slide where he doesn’t extend. Absolutely.”
The top of the 10th came on the heels of a thrilling top of the ninth, which the Red Sox entered leading 1-0. Crochet had dominated the Yankees all night, including Judge, who walked to the plate 0-for-3 with three strikeouts on 98, 97 and 99 mph fastballs.
But the Yankees captain worked a full count, then saw Crochet’s 107th pitch of the night, a 100 mph fastball on the inside edge that he obliterated onto Lansdowne Street for a 443-foot blast that tied the game 1-1. Judge’s 26th home run of the year came off the bat at 115.5 mph and marked his fifth home run in his last four starts.
“Just demolished,” Boone said. “Just a great at-bat, great swing, obviously, to get us back in it there. On a night when we get in at four in the morning, they’re coming off an off day and we’re short down there [in the bullpen], the compete from our guys tonight was awesome, and it was an awesome game to be in. Great environment. The Red Sox played well. Obviously, Crochet was great. We were able to do enough to hang around and almost pull it off. Really loved the way the guys competed on a tough day.”
The Yankees’ best chance to score before Judge’s homer came in the fifth inning when they had runners on the corners with no outs and could not score. LeMahieu singled with Domínguez on second and no outs, but Domínguez was held at third, which Boone thought was the right call.
By the end of the night, though, they were left ruing their missed opportunities.
“Didn’t go our way [in the 10th], but can’t hang your hat on that,” Judge said. “Still had nine other innings to make something happen and score some runs.”
