Catastrophic Inning Sinks Red Sox World Series Dreams

The Boston Red Sox’s hopes of winning a World Series in 2025 are over. They lost in Game 3 of the Wild Card Series to the New York Yankees, 4-0, on Thursday to end the season.

In a matchup of rookie pitchers, Connelly Early went toe to toe with Cam Schlittler over the first three innings of the game. In the fourth inning, things went off the rails.

The inning started with a double off the bat of Cody Bellinger on a blooper. It was a ball that Ceddanne Rafaela normally catches, but a poor route and a late dive led to the ball dropping in, and Bellinger reached second by hustling out of the box. After a walk and a strikeout, Amed Rosario singled on a ground ball that found a hole to score one run.

With one out, Anthony Volpe hit a ground ball to right field that skipped past Romy Gonzalez, scoring another run. Austin Wells then hit a ground ball that looked like a double-play ball, but Nathaniel Lowe couldn’t come up with it, and two more runs scored.

“I thought I could get to the short hop. I didn’t. The between hop ate me up, and obviously, runs cashed in, and we couldn’t make up for it,” Lowe said.

The Red Sox failed to score a run on the evening. They were kept quiet by Schlittler, who pitched an excellent game. Still, had they turned a double play and kept the deficit at two, Yankees manager Aaron Boone might have been quicker to lift his starter and turn to the bullpen, giving the Red Sox offense a new look to attack.

David Bednar took over for Schlittler in the ninth inning and retired the side in order, clinching the series. The Yankees will go to Toronto for the Divisional Round, while the Red Sox will start their offseason work.