New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone. Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

Yankees' continued defensive meltdowns hurt them again against Red Sox

By Adam Gretz | Last updated Aug 21, 2025 11:06 PM ET

The New York Yankees can hit the baseball out of the ballpark as well as any team in the major leagues, and that will always give them a chance to win any game. They also field the baseball as poorly as any team in the major leagues, and that can cost them games.

The latter issue was on display once again on Thursday night in a 6-3 loss to the Boston Red Sox to kick off an absolutely massive four-game series in the American League wild-card race.

Not only did the Yankees lose to allow Boston to keep gaining ground in the standings, but they also kind of gave it away in the field.

The issues started in the top of the second inning when the Yankees made three errors, including a throwing error from catcher Ben Rice to bring in Boston's first run.

The Yankees third error of the inning leads to the first run of the night for the Red Sox

: FOX pic.twitter.com/YTt6Elxjq2
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) August 21, 2025

The fielding miscues continued in the top of the ninth when first baseman Paul Goldschmidt committed the Yankees' fourth error of the game, allowing the inning to extend for Roman Anthony to come to bat.

He used that at-bat to pretty much put the game out of reach with an absolute moonshot of a home run.

ROMAN ANTHONY HOMERS IN HIS FIRST GAME AT YANKEE STADIUM!

: FOX pic.twitter.com/Qci1L8IKh6
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) August 22, 2025

These fundamental errors and mistakes were a problem for the Yankees a year ago, and they remain a problem now. They are also not going away anytime soon, and they keep showing in big moments — and in big games. Until they figure out a way to get that changed — and it might be too late for this roster to do so — they are going to have some big concerns going into October.

Hitting home runs is great.

But not consistently making routine mistakes and giving good teams extra outs is the type of thing that not even home runs can always overcome.

Overall, the Yankees are a very good team. Until they clean up these mistakes, they won't be a great team.

Adam Gretz

Adam Gretz is a freelance writer based in Pittsburgh. He covers the NHL, NFL, MLB and NBA. Baseball is his favorite sport -- he is nearly halfway through his goal of seeing a game in every MLB ballpark. Catch him on Twitter @AGretz

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