Offensive struggles persist as Yanks swept by Sox

BOSTON -- The third-inning drive boomed off of Anthony Rizzo’s bat toward center field, one of his best-struck balls in weeks, and appeared ticketed for extra bases and an RBI. If the Yankees’ offensive doldrums have been a drought, then this promised to be at least the equivalent of the downpour that forced a day-night doubleheader.

With a few fleet steps and a well-timed basket catch, Jarren Duran stole that hit from Rizzo, leaving only the memory of a desert mirage. Rizzo tossed his helmet aside, as his teammates would for every scoring opportunity that followed, absorbing a 4-1 loss to the Red Sox on Sunday evening at Fenway Park.

“It sucks. It’s definitely a low in the season, but this is part of the ups and downs of a big league season,” Rizzo said.

With the Bombers having dropped a 6-2 decision in the opener, it marked the first time since July 31, 1976, that the Yanks were swept in a doubleheader at Fenway. That campaign resulted in an American League pennant for Billy Martin’s squad; manager Aaron Boone’s team has a long way to go if they hope to achieve the same.

“We’ve got to find a way right now,” Boone said. “We’re going through a challenging time right now offensively. We’ve got to dig ourselves out.”

The Yankees have equaled their season-low with four straight losses. As it has frequently been since Aaron Judge crashed into Dodger Stadium’s right-field wall, the culprit could be found on the folded blue lineup card Boone presented behind his desk in the visiting clubhouse.

Tracing an index finger from Nos. 1 through 9, left fielder Jake Bauers to shortstop Anthony Volpe, Boone expressed a belief that his hitters will soon “bang” out consistent results. Between games of Sunday’s twin bill, hitting coach Dillon Lawson promised the same, noting that the club is “flipping over all the rocks” in search of cures. They’re still looking.

“I can continue to talk about it; continue to show you the card,” Boone said. “We have a lot of confidence in the people that are going out there each and every night. We’ve got to get them unlocked and on track.”

With help from Duran’s excellent catch to rob Rizzo, Brayan Bello limited the Yanks to a run on four hits over seven innings, striking out a career-high eight.

Boone applauded Bello’s effort, saying that his sinker is tough on righties, but the impressive Boston youngster has had company. Since June 4, the Yanks’ first game without Judge, the club has managed a .195 batting average and a .599 OPS -- both statistics are the worst in the Majors.

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Not coincidentally, they’ve lost eight of 12 games without the captain, who is traveling with the club but unable to do much other than cheer from the bench.

“There’s 30 teams in baseball right now that don’t have Aaron Judge on it. I don’t think it’s different for any other team,” Rizzo said. “He’s our captain; he’s our leader. But one guy doesn’t make the biggest difference in the world.

“For us as a unit, we’ve got to come together and rally for us, for him, for everyone. I know the narrative is ‘Without Judge,’ but I don’t think that’s fair to put on him or anyone on this team.”

With Gleyber Torres (homer, two doubles) and Bauers (two doubles, run scored) combining to provide most of the visitors’ offense across the doubleheader, Luis Severino came away more encouraged than his previous outing, when he’d lamented not helping the team.

Severino was knocked for four runs (three earned) and seven hits over five innings, including Triston Casas’ two-run, ground-rule double in the fifth. Severino did match a season-high with six strikeouts, and said that he felt his fastball command had improved.

“I wanted to give a good chance to my team,” Severino said. “I know right now we’re not in a good spot scoring runs, but it doesn’t matter the situation. I want to go out there and throw zeroes.”

And any margin for error, Severino was reminded, is much smaller without No. 99 in the lineup.

“Of course,” Severino said. “To me, Judge is the best hitter in the game. Missing him is going to be huge for us, but we still have to go out there and grind to be able to win games.”