What Boston Red Sox starter called ‘very avoidable’ in loss to Yankees

BOSTON — Red Sox starter Lucas Giolito allowed just one earned run and recorded 14 swings-and-misses in 5 ⅔ innings against the Yankees on Friday.

“It wasn’t good enough,” Giolito said. “The other guys throwing zero after zero. I’ve gotta match that for us to have a chance to win.”

Giolito took the loss as Boston fell 4-1 at Fenway Park.

The 31-year-old righty was upset with himself for leaving a 92.5 mph four-seam fastball near the middle of the plate to Aaron Judge in the first inning. Judge didn’t miss it, crushing a 468-foot, 112.6 mph solo home run to put New York ahead 1-0.

“The homer to Judge in the first is very avoidable,” Giolito said. “I yanked a heater all the way across the plate. I feel like that was a big momentum shift. And, yeah, I mean, I gotta be better than that in a game like this.”

Of his 14 swings-and-misses, nine came with his slider, four with his four-seam fastball and one with his changeup.

He ended up allowing two runs, five hits and one walk while striking out six. The unearned run came in the third inning on catcher’s interference by Carlos Narváez.

Judge walked with two outs and nobody on base. Ben Rice reached on Narváez’s catcher’s interference and Cody Bellinger hit an RBI single to make it 2-0 New York.

“That’s another opportunity where I need to be better,” Giolito said. “Sometimes you gotta get four outs. It happens in this game. And I didn’t do that. I gave a base hit for them to get another run.”

Manager Alex Cora said about Giolito, “He did a good job. Obviously the interference put us in a bad spot there. But overall, he was able to make pitches when he needed to. And 5 ⅔ (innings) against that lineup, that’s pretty good.”

The Red Sox managed just two hits. Their first hit didn’t come until there were two outs in the seventh inning. Nate Eaton blasted a solo shot.

“We were flat today, but doesn’t mean that’s going to continue tomorrow,” Giolito said. “I think after today, kind of regroup and go and play the baseball that we know how to play tomorrow. Got (Brayan) Bello going. He’s been fantastic. So I look forward to watching him.”

Bello (11-6, 3.12 ERA) will start opposite lefty Max Fried (16-5, 3.02 ERA) on Saturday at 4:10 p.m. Bello has a 1.95 ERA in 10 career starts vs. New York.

“We can go and take the series,” Giolito said. “It’s just a matter of staying within ourselves and doing what we know how to do.”