The Yankees couldn’t contain the Red Sox on the basepaths and the bats were held in check in a 9-3 defeat at Fenway Park on Sunday night.

New York fell to 50-24 on the season and after dropping two of three over the weekend, their lead is down to 1.5 over the Baltimore Orioles for first place in the AL East. Boston stole a franchise-record nine bases on the night and improved to 37-35.

Here are the takeaways...

- With two down in the first, Aaron Judge got a breaking pitch that hovered over the middle of the plate and hit a soaring home run over the Green Monster. The 380-foot dinger (114.2 mph off the bat) was like a punt. It had seven seconds of hang time as the slugger smacked his 26th of the season with a 45-degree launch angle.

But other than that, the Yanks had nothing off Boston right-hander Kutter Crawford, who did not allow another hit (with just one walk) through five frames with seven strikeouts. He needed 65 pitches to get 15 outs, tallying 11 whiffs (on 33 Yankee swings) and 14 called strikes.

- But it wasn't until the seventh when the game got away from the Yanks. In the top of the inning, the Red Sox turned to the bullpen to protect a one-run lead. Alex Verdugo and Giancarlo Stanton immediately pounced on lefty Brennan Bernardino with singles. Anthony Rizzo then hit a tapper to first, and first baseman Dominic Smith’s bad throw to Bernardino covering loaded the bases on the Sox’s 53rd error of the season (most in MLB).

On the play, Rizzo collided with the Boston reliever and was forced to exit the game with what the club called a "right lower arm" injury as he appeared to jar his wrist when breaking his fall.

Oswaldo Cabrera entered as a pinch-runner, but he was just a spectator as Alex Cora summoned Zack Kelly from the bullpen and he got Gleyber Torres to chase a 3-2 sweeper in the dirt (after the count was 3-0), Jose Tevino to go down swinging and DJ LeMahieu to fly out to squander the bases-loaded opportunity.

In the bottom half, left-hander Caleb Ferguson entered and walked the leadoff hitter before allowing a one-out single to put runners on the corners.

In came Luke Weaver but he couldn’t get the job done: Rafael Devers took a changeup on the outside corner and rocketed it (109 mph) up the middle for an RBI single and catcher Connor Wong took a cutter on the outside corner and lined it the other way past Verdugo in right for a two-run triple to make it a 7-3 ballgame.

- Marcus Stroman had a lead before he threw his first pitch, but couldn’t keep the Red Sox off the bases, beginning with a leadoff infield hit to start the game spoiling an otherwise clean first frame.

Stroman got the first two outs in the second easily but lost the strike zone to walk Enmanuel Valdez before Smith dropped a bloop single into right to cover the corners for Ceddanne Rafaela – who entered the game with eight hits in his last 15 at-bats. After Smith stole a second without a throw – a curious decision by the Yanks to concede the base – Rafaela worked a full count and yanked an outside slider up the middle for a two-run single.

Stroman allowed more traffic in the third, walking David Hamilton, who quickly stole second and got to third on Rob Refsnyder’s single. But Stroman managed to avoid the big inning getting a bouncer up the middle to a perfectly placed Anthony Volpe for a 6-3 double play that plated the Sox’s third run of the game but killed the potential rally.

And it was more of the same for Stroman in the fifth: David Hamilton singled and stole second and third with ease. After Stroman walked Refsnyder, a sac fly from Devers made it 4-1.

Stroman's final line: 5.0 innings, seven hits, four runs, four walks, and three strikeouts on 102 pitches (58 strikes). Boston added six steals (with one caught), taking advantage of the righty's slow delivery.

- The Yanks got to the Red Sox starter in the sixth when Trevino deposited the first pitch of the inning (a high cutter) over the Green Monster for their second hit of the night. Volpe grabbed a one-out single and after running on the pitch, got to third on a Juan Soto ground out. That allowed Volpe to score easily on a two-out, two-strike wild pitch to make it a one-run game.

- Ian Hamilton couldn't keep the Sox off the board in the eighth, allowing back-to-back singles. After Jarren Duran grabbed his second steal of the game, David Hamilton's bloop single scored one but Soto gunned down Duran at the plate on a good throw. Michael Tonkin entered and allowed a two-out RBI single to Wong as Soto just missed a second assist of the inning.

- Tommy Kahnle was the first man out of the ‘pen and worked a clean inning thanks to a fine play by Volpe to rob a two-out single up the middle. It was the only 1-2-3 inning of the night for a Yankees pitcher.

MVP of the game: Boston's pitchers

The Yanks’ bats were loud on the home runs but failed to produce anything otherwise. After his homer, Judge went down on strikes three times, twice swinging and once looking. Soto went 0-for-3 with a walk, and Stanton 1-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts. Torres went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, and Trevino struck out three times.

New York left five on base and finished 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

Here are the takeaways...

MVP of the game: Boston's pitchers

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