Yankees bats silenced in loss to Red Sox as Payton Tolle flirts with perfect game

BOSTON — The Yankees at least spared themselves the infamy of having a perfect game thrown against them.Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Greg Joyce about the inside buzz on the Yankees.

They even mustered a run in the eighth inning.But that is where the list of positive developments ended for them on Friday night at Fenway Park.Red Sox lefty Payton Tolle dominated them across seven innings, allowing just one hit to Spencer Jones after retiring 16 straight to start the game, as the Yankees stumbled to a second straight loss by a score of 6-1.Tolle, who struck out 11 in six innings of one-run ball against the Yankees (48-33) in April, was even more untouchable on Friday night.Jones poked a single into center field off him with one out in the sixth, and Tolle later walked a pair in the seventh.

But all three baserunners proved harmless as he mowed down the Yankees, who have now lost six of their last nine.Besides Tolle vying for a perfect game, the only real drama — if you can call it that — of the night came in the bottom of the fifth inning, when the benches cleared after Will Warren walked Willson Contreras.Ball four was inside on Contreras, who essentially stands on top of the plate, and he flipped his bat before jogging down to first and jawing at Warren.Contreras seemed to want to know why Warren was looking at him, and after some talking back and forth, both teams left their dugouts and bullpens to crowd around first base with nothing more than words exchanged.That only added to the frustration for Warren, who gave up five runs on seven hits and three walks across 5 2/3 innings.For the first time in his career, he did not record a single strikeout. Warren was consistently hit hard even on outs, as 10 of the 24 balls the Red Sox (34-46) put in play against him came off the bat at 95 mph or higher.After a strong first two months of the season, Warren has had a rockier June, giving up 16 runs (12...