Brito hit hard by Sox in Yanks' 6th straight loss

NEW YORK -- Jhony Brito paced around the mound during the first inning on Friday evening, adjusting the cap upon his head. The rookie right-hander had faced four Red Sox batters, all coming around to score, three on Masataka Yoshida’s home run to the right-field seats.

The Yankees’ slide continued as Brito was thumped for seven runs (six earned), seeing the Bombers open their homestand with a season-high sixth consecutive loss, falling to the Red Sox, 8-3.

“The execution of my pitches could have been better,” Brito said through an interpreter. “They were ready to swing tonight.”

At 60-62, the Yankees missed an opportunity to gain ground on Boston -- one of the clubs they are looking up at in the AL Wild Card chase, and a team that has now beaten them in five straight contests.

Their active run of 30 consecutive winning seasons remains in jeopardy. The Yankees haven’t finished below .500 since 1992, the second-longest streak in franchise history behind a stretch of 39 straight seasons from 1926-64.

“It’s hard when you lose,” said infielder Gleyber Torres. “We try to compete every time, but we fail. It’s really frustrating for us because we know we’ve got a really good team, and we don’t do the right things right now. We have to keep going and try to figure out the right way to start winning games.”

There was a fair amount of discussion following Friday’s loss concerning issues that Brito and catcher Ben Rortvedt encountered regarding the PitchCom system; the Yankees were told shortly before first pitch that the Red Sox transmitters were not functioning properly, thus neither club would be permitted to use the technology.

“Interesting timing of that right there,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Not an ideal situation, obviously, right before you’re getting ready to throw the first pitch.”

Red Sox manager Alex Cora said that Boston’s units were not working in the bullpen, and there is a chance they may not work on Saturday.

That created a hiccup for Brito and Rortvedt to iron out, quickly transitioning to old-school signs; as Rortvedt noted, “Us catchers in the past few years, we haven’t put down the fingers in a long time, unless that situation occurs.”

Yet the Yankees largely rejected the idea of gamesmanship at play. The problem was not how the pitches were called, but where Brito placed them. Brito’s best pitch is his changeup, and it was hit hard, especially an inviting offering that Yoshida parked over the right-field wall.

“He was up with his changeup and really couldn’t command glove-side,” Boone said. “They obviously made him pay for it.”

Yoshida drove in four of the seven runs against Brito, who also surrendered a pair of Justin Turner RBI singles and a Rafael Devers run-scoring hit. A Torres error helped to set up Boston’s three-run second inning against Brito, who permitted a career-high nine hits.

“They know that he has a good changeup, so maybe some hitters in counts were looking for it, seeking that,” Rortvedt said.

Even without a PitchCom earpiece, Boston’s Brayan Bello performed well, spinning six innings of one-run ball. The right-hander has been tough on the Yanks thus far in his brief career, improving to 2-2 with a 1.45 ERA in five starts vs. New York.

“Every time we get an opportunity, we always hit a ground ball,” Torres said. “He’s pitched really well every time he’s faced us. We need to make an adjustment.”

DJ LeMahieu’s third-inning RBI groundout marked the Yankees’ first run since Monday at Atlanta, as the Braves blanked New York in the final two games of that series. Aaron Judge added a two-run homer in the eighth, his 23rd of the season and first at home since May 28, as three Yanks relievers combined for 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball.

“We know we haven’t played to anywhere near our potential the entire year,” said shortstop Anthony Volpe, who went 2-for-4 with a double in the loss. “The fact that we still trust and believe in each other, and know that we have another gear that we can get to, every day we’re just working to try and do that.”