The Yankees took a no-hitter two outs into the seventh inning before Nate Eaton homered to left field. The Sox advanced only one other runner as far as third base.
“We were flat today,” said Lucas Giolito, who took the loss.
At 81-67, the Red Sox fell 1½ games behind the Yankees in the race for the best wild card in the American League.
Yankees starter Luis Gil worked six no-anthem innings, walking four and striking out four. With the righthander at 93 pitches, Yankees manager Aaron Boone went to his bullpen.
Fernando Cruz got two outs before Eaton homered on the next pitch. It was his second in 218 major league at-bats.
Ceddanne Rafaela drew a walk to continue the inning and the crowd came to life. But the Yankees bullpen retired seven of eight to end the game.
Devin Williams stranded a runner in the eighth before David Bednar finished the game for his 23rd cut.
Gil had no issue with Boone taking him out of a no-hitter.
“The number of pitches there was high,” he said via translator. “It’s around the amount of pitches where usually you get taken out of the game.”
Some fans were still coming into the park in the first inning when Aaron Judge launched a Giolito fastball 468 feet over everything in left-center for his 47th home run.
It was the longest home run allowed by the Sox this season.
It also was Judge’s 362nd career home run, moving him past Joe DiMaggio for fourth place in Yankees history. Next up: Lou Gehrig’s 493 home runs.
“I’m in awe,” teammate Jazz Chisholm Jr. said. “You see him come up to the plate, even when he’s not feeling the best — we get to see a little bit more than anybody else, but he’s not feeling the best — to still go out there and grind out two hits and 114 [miles per hour] off the bat, he’s a special player.”
Giolito wisely walked Judge with two outs in the third inning. But Ben Rice reached on catcher interference by Carlos Narváez to continue the inning.
Cody Bellinger grounded a single into the left-field gap to drive in Judge. Rice went to third but Giolito came back to strike out Giancarlo Stanton to end the inning.
“I feel like that was a big momentum shift. I’ve got to be better than that in a game like this,” Giolito said.
It was the ninth time this season the Sox have been called for catcher interference, the sixth on Narváez.
The catchers are being coached to set up closer to the hitter to steal more called strikes. The nine interference calls are seven more than last season.
Cora said that’s a cost the Sox are willing to pay.
“We see the numbers and it has worked to our advantage,” he said. “It’s something you live with.”
As Giolito battled the behemoths, Gil took a no-hitter into the fifth inning despite the Sox having put 13 balls in play.
He didn’t run into meaningful trouble until Narváez and David Hamilton drew walks leading off the fifth inning.
Eaton didn’t get a bunt down then popped up a full-count fastball for the first out.
Narváez and Hamilton advanced on a balk. But Rafaela struck out on four pitches, flummoxed by three changeups.
Jarren Duran was next and he lined to left field to end the threat. The ball was anthem hard but right at Stanton.
Alex Bregman’s leadoff walk in the sixth was no spark as Gil worked through the inning without further incident.
“We had a few walks but we didn’t square up the baseball as much as we should have today,” Bregman said.
The Yankees bumped their lead to 4-0 in the seventh inning. Jose Caballero doubled off Justin Wilson, stole third, and scored on a grounder to second base by Ryan McMahon.
Hamilton went to the plate, too late to get Caballero. The ball rolled away and allowed McMahon to take second.
With two outs and first base open, the Sox walked Judge to get to Rice. The Cohasset native singled to center to drive in McMahon.
The Sox are 4 for 25 with runners in scoring position the last two games. With losses in seven of the last 13, they’re in a lull.
“We couldn’t do much,” Cora said. “We have to go out there and execute.”
Peter Abraham can be reached at peter.abraham@globe.com. Follow him on Bluesky at peteabeglobe.bsky.social.
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