Yankees strive for better defensive effort vs. Red Sox

The visiting New York Yankees made Thursday's game easy for the Boston Red Sox.

The Yankees will try to avoid a repeat performance when the teams meet Friday night in the second matchup of a four-game series.

The Yankees committed four errors during Thursday's 6-3 loss to the Red Sox. All six runs of Boston's runs were unearned.

"We just didn't do a good job of taking care of the ball," New York manager Aaron Boone said. "Not up to the way we've been playing or are capable of playing, and ultimately it was too much to overcome.

"You gotta keep playing. It happens sometimes, and it's just not fun going through that or fun when you make mistakes in a game, especially one that you have a lead or it's a close game for most of that game, but we didn't play well enough. When you have a handful of situations where you got a chance to make a play, you gotta make them, especially in a close game."

The Yankees' biggest miscue may have been a ball that third baseman Amed Rosario allowed to get under his glove in the fifth inning. One run scored on the play, but the error opened the door for a four-run inning that included Caleb Durbin's two-run homer.

"Definitely a play there that I just gotta make," Rosario said through an interpreter. "When you look at the play, you gotta find a way to knock it down and at least get one out.

"All of us want to make sure we make plays. ... When you don't make plays and give them extra chances, it's definitely frustrating."

Durbin went 2-for-3 with a walk and scored twice Thursday, one day after he dislocated his pinky finger diving into first base during an 8-6 loss to Colorado.

"It was like it didn't even happen (Wednesday)," Durbin said following Thursday's win. "I don't know how it works, but thankful it felt better today."

After a May 24 loss to Minnesota, Durbin was batting .163, and there was speculation that he might be sent to Triple-A. He was held out of the lineup for Boston's next two games, and in his last 24 games he has hit .329 with five home runs, a triple, eight doubles and 16 RBIs.

"Pretty proud of him for where he was at," Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy said. "With the expectations and the heat he was taking, he has just fought back and got up off the mat."

Right-hander Will Warren (7-2, 3.45 ERA) is scheduled to start for New York on Friday night. Warren is 1-2 with a 9.42 ERA in three career starts against the Red Sox.

Left-hander Payton Tolle (3-5, 3.08) will be Boston's probable starter.

Tolle has a 1.50 ERA without a decision in his only career start against the Yankees, allowing one run on three hits and striking out 11 in six innings of his team's 4-2 loss to visiting New York on April 23.

--Field Level Media