Red Sox swept by Yankees in Giancarlo Stanton’s historic series

The Boston Red Sox could not figure out Giancarlo Stanton

Giancarlo Stanton is several years removed from being the superstar who earned his massive contract but he’s still capable of doing damage at the plate. The Boston Red Sox were served a reminder of that as they were swept at home by the New York Yankees in a pivotal series in which they relinquished control of the top Wild Card spot.

Stanton was in MVP form during the weekend series at Fenway Park. He homered in all three games of the series and collected at least two hits in each game. Stanton finished the series 7-for-12 with three home runs and 10 RBI.

According to ESPN, Stanton joined Mickey Mantle as the only Yankees players with 10 RBI against the Red Sox in a three-game series. Mantle did it in the old Yankee Stadium in May 1954, making Stanton the only Yankee to complete this accomplishment at Fenway Park.

Babe Ruth (1927), Lou Gehrig (1931), Mantle and Stanton are the only Yankees with at least three home runs and 10 RBI in any three-game span against the Red Sox.

Stanton is also the first Yankee with three home runs and 10 RBI in a three-game series against any team since Alex Rodriguez hit four home runs with 11 RBI against the Angels in April 2005.

His historic performance wasn’t a case of Stanton padding his stats in blowouts. He made sure his biggest hits counted in pivotal situations.

Stanton chased Nathan Eovaldi from the series opener with a three-run homer with nobody out in the third inning. Not only did the home run double New York’s lead to essentially put the game out of reach early, Stanton set the tone for the series and left the Red Sox scrambling to patch together the remainder of the game with their bullpen.

The Red Sox held a one-run lead in the eighth inning on Saturday that quickly evaporated due to some questionable bullpen management. The decision to bring in Darwinzon Hernandez to face Anthony Rizzo, despite the first baseman’s extreme reverse splits, backfired when Hernandez plunked him with a pitch to load the bases. Instead of escaping the inning with the lead intact, MLB’s three batter rule forced Hernandez to face Stanton. The lefty served up a meatball down the middle that Stanton blasted into orbit for a grand slam.

Boston once again held a one-run lead in the eighth inning in the series finale as they aimed to avoid the sweep. Once again, the bullpen gave it away.

An infuriating blown call allowed Aaron Judge to continue batting after he clearly struck out. Home plate umpire Joe West claimed the foul tip was dropped by the catcher when replay very obviously showed Christian Vazquez dropped the ball on the transfer. Judge should have been out but unfortunately, that play cannot be challenged. Moments later, Judge ripped a two-run double that gave the Yankees a lead.

The Red Sox felt robbed by a horrible call, and rightfully so, but Stanton made it a moot point by following with a two-run homer that would have put the Yankees ahead even if Judge had struck out. A case could be made that Adam Ottavino wouldn’t have coughed up the homer if he wasn’t rattled by the umpire’s blunder but we’ll never know for certain.

Stanton has managed to turn Fenway Park into his own personal playground. In 24 career games in this ballpark, Stanton is hitting .389/.451/.689 with six home runs, 14 extra-base hits and 22 RBI.

The Red Sox still hold the second Wild Card spot and remain in strong position to make the playoffs with a cupcake schedule in the final week of the regular season. Getting swept at home makes that goal a bit more challenging and crushes any momentum they could have taken with them into a potential Wild Card game against the Yankees. Even if Boston moves back ahead in the standings to ensure that game is played at Fenway, they can’t have much confidence that home-field advantage will matter in the wake of this miserable series – especially if it means Stanton will get to hit again in this park.