For the second straight day, the Yankees’ offense jumped all over a Red Sox offseason acquisition early. They plated five runs off of Garrett Crochet in the first four innings, the strongest outing by any offense against the Boston ace all season.

Unlike Friday, however, the offense’s outburst early didn’t lead to a win. After an impressive start to his Yankees tenure, Ryan Yarbrough got hit around tonight, allowing a staggering eight runs in four innings, as the Yankees dropped the second game of this weekend series, 10-7. Austin Wells homered and drove in four, but stranded the tying run on second in the eighth. New York never got closer.

The game started innocently enough, with both Yarbrough and Crochet delivering scoreless innings in the first. Yarbrough worked around a one-out double by Rafael Devers and Crochet dominated through the top of the order.

The first blow came in the top of the second. A leadoff double by Romy Gonzalez and a walk to Ceddanne Rafaela set the table for Kristian Campbell, who had been in a deep slump before delivering a game-opening RBI single.

An early deficit against Crochet is usually a death sentence, but the Yankees came out swinging in the bottom half. An infield single and two stolen bases by Cody Bellinger got the tying run to third. DJ LeMahieu worked a walk to bring up Wells, who ambushed a poorly located first-pitch cutter into the short porch. It was the first time Crochet had given up three runs since April 24th and it was 3-1, Bombers.

Pablo Reyes nearly made it back-to-back on a deep fly out to center field, but Crochet stopped the bleeding. In the third, things quickly went south, and Reyes was right in the middle of it. Yarbrough plunked Devers to open the third before giving up a “double” to Rob Refsnyder on a blooper that got past Bellinger. A smart play by Goldschmidt to cut down Devers at the plate would wind up going to waste, as the Yankees’ left-side defense imploded shortly after.

Gonzalez hit a grounder to Oswald Peraza, who looked to get the force out at third with his momentum carrying him away from first and second base. Unfortunately, Reyes, who was manning third, didn’t cover the bag and everyone was safe. Another soft liner by Abraham Toro got one run back for Boston before Trevor Story ripped a ball off of Reyes’ glove and down the left field line for a three-run double. Campbell added another two batters later and, despite three singles hit softer than 90 mph, Yarbrough allowed five runs to fall behind 6-3.

Crochet dialed back in after the Wells home run and got up to six strikeouts through three innings, while Yarbrough tried to grit his teeth and eat some outs to salvage his worst start of the season. A one-out walk by Refsnyder came back to bite him, as Gonzalez got just enough of a first-pitch sweeper for a two-run homer. Boston had a commanding 8-3 lead.

Frustration started to boil over at this point. Crochet was getting a bunch of favorable outside calls to right-handed batters and it led to the ejection of Yankees hitting coach James Rowson. After a pair of singles by Bellinger and LeMahieu, Wells got a rough strike-one call, but bounced back to rip an RBI double to left-center field. Reyes picked up an RBI on a groundout to shortstop to get a second run back. A single by Peraza brought Goldschmidt up as the tying run, but the Yankees had to settle with cutting the deficit to 8-5.

Yerry De los Santos came on for the fifth and worked around a pair of walks. Crochet was finally able to settle down in the bottom half, working around a catcher’s interference to open the inning. The two pitchers replicated their fifth inning success in the sixth, with Crochet wrapping up his up-and-down start. Five runs on six hits constituted his worst start of the season, but he gritted through six innings and struck out nine, including Judge thrice. The Yankees got a good swing at the Red Sox ace, but their pitching didn’t give them a chance to capitalize.

De los Santos was honestly a godsend for the Yankees in this one, as his three scoreless innings saved the bullpen for the impending rubber game. Former Yankee Greg Weissert came on for Crochet and ripped through 8-9-1, even with Jazz Chisholm Jr. pinch-hitting for Reyes. Mark Leiter Jr. got the ball next and matched Weissert by striking out the side.

Another former Yankee, Justin Wilson, came on for the eighth for Boston and walked Rice on four pitches, threw a wild pitch, and fell behind Judge 3-0 before inducing a fly out to right field. Wilson brought the tying run to the plate for the first time since the fourth with another four-pitch walk to Bellinger that put runners on the corners with one out. A steal by Bellinger and a strikeout from Jasson Domínguez brought LeMahieu to the plate, who ripped a two-run single up the middle, getting to second on the throw.

In an 8-7 game with the tying run in scoring position, Wells dug in against Wilson, but couldn’t build on his strong day, striking out on a 2-2 fastball upstairs.

Ian Hamilton came in and didn’t give the offense a chance to finish the comeback, allowing two singles and a walk to load the bases with nobody out before allowing a backbreaking two-run single to Story. While the damage ended there, a 10-7 deficit was enough to put this game on ice.

The Red Sox sent a third former Yankee out of the bullpen for the save in Aroldis Chapman. Bolstered by the three-run lead, the fireballer did what he’s typically done throughout his career, setting down his former team 1-2-3. Ballgame.

That sets up tomorrow night as the rubber game. Carlos Rodón will face rookie righty Hunter Dobbins on Sunday Night Baseball at 7:10 EDT on ESPN.