BOSTON — At the end of that three-game set at Fenway Park, it was hard to believe the Yankees were the team slightly ahead of the AL East and the Red Sox in the basement.
The Yankees’ poor play began with back-to-back home losses to the Mariners and continued with a road trip that saw them lose seven of nine, including Sunday night’s 3-0 loss in front of another sold-out crowd in just under 2 hours and 15 minutes.
It was the third time the Yankees have been ruled out on the trip and they have lost nine of 11 as they return home to the Bronx this week to face off against the Rays and Blue Jays, 10 games clear of the second-place finishers Toronto in the division .
“It wasn’t our best road trip,” said DJ LeMahieu, who missed the finale with a sore right big toe. “We’re all frustrated. We know what a good team we are, we just didn’t play like that.”
They’ve hit eight runs – four of them losses – in their last five games as they deal with injuries to LeMahieu, Giancarlo Stanton (Achilles) and Matt Carpenter (foot).
On Sunday they were surpassed by Michael Wacha.
Aaron Judge goes back to the dugout after knocking out in the sixth inning. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST
Michael Wacha dominated the Yankees’ lineup. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST
In his first game, retired from injury after more than a month on the injury list after injuring his right shoulder, the right-hander retired the first 14 batters he faced until Miguel Andujar was in fifth with two outs.
With Isiah Kiner-Falefa at the plate, Andujar wiped in second before Kiner-Falefa left.
Kyle Higashioka followed up into third with a hard grounder where Rafael Devers made a nice play to end the threat.
And that’s about all the Yankees could get away from Wacha, who has only given up a pair of singles and has held the Yankees in his last four starts against them for 23 innings to a deserved run dating back to last season.
Jameson Taillon plays during the Yankees’ loss to the Red Sox on Sunday. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST
“He kind of mowed us through,” manager Aaron Boone said.
It didn’t give Jameson Taillon much of a chance.
The right-hander allowed three runs in seven innings but put the Yankees in a hole in the first inning.
Taillon relinquished a leadoff double to Tommy Pham, who moved to third on a groundout by Devers and hit on a grounder to shortstop by Xander Bogaerts to give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead.
Rafael Devers (11) celebrates after hitting a double home run in the sixth inning. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST
Jameson Taillon reacts after Rafael Devers’ homer. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST
After the Yankees wasted a pair of baserunners in the fifth, Andrew Benintendi grabbed their second hit of the night with a single to the left, but Aaron Judge and Josh Donaldson struck out.
Pham led from the end of the sixth with a single to the right and Devers then took Taillon deep for 3-0.
Devers has 19 career homers against the Yankees, his most against any single opponent.
With Wacha eliminated, Ryan Brasier tossed to a scoreless eighth before Garrett Whitlock finished him in ninth.
“We obviously didn’t play the way we wanted to, but we put ourselves in a good position at this point in the season,” Taillon said of their sizable divisional lead. “We have people to deal with in here [turn it around]. It will be nice to come home after a hard road trip.”
Those were words seldom heard in the first half of the season, when the Yankees appeared to be on their way to the American League’s best record.
“It’s baseball,” Judge said. “You’re going to go through stretches like this. Every team does. We are not happy with that… [but] we are in the first place. If you asked me earlier this year if we wanted a 10-game head start in mid-August, we’d appreciate it. We have to pick up and off we go [Monday]. We still have a good ball club here.”
Boone agreed they could go back to where they were earlier in the season.
“We bring the boys back and have everything we need,” said the manager.