Friday night, the Yankees opened their ALDS matchup with the Red Sox with a 5-4 loss (box score) in Game 1 at Fenway Park. The Yankees were down 5-0 after three innings before their late-inning comeback attempt fell just short.

The Yankees dropped Game 1 for several reasons, most notably starter J.A. Happ allowing five runs in two innings and the offense going 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position. They turned a bases-loaded, no-outs situation in the seventh inning into only one run, and that run scored when Luke Voit barely beat out a potential inning-ending double play.

The goat on offense -- that's the goat, not the G.O.A.T. -- was cleanup hitter Giancarlo Stanton, who went 1 for 5 with four strikeouts. He did have a hit as part of the team's two-run sixth inning rally, but his other four at-bats weren't good:

  • First at-bat: Eight-pitch strikeout with a runner on first and two outs in the first.
  • Second at-bat: Three-pitch strikeout with a runner on first and no outs in the fourth.
  • Third at-bat: Two-pitch single to center with a runner on first and one out in the sixth.
  • Fourth at-bat: Five-pitch strikeout with the bases loaded and no outs in the seventh.
  • Fifth at-bat: Three-pitch strikeout with the bases empty and one out in the ninth.

Stanton's fourth at-bat was by far the most damaging. If he reaches base there to bring a run home and keep the line moving, the win probability swing is more than 15 percent in the Yankees' favor. That's huge. 

Stanton's fifth at-bat was the ugliest, however. Craig Kimbrel worked him over on three pitches. Stanton never took the bat off his shoulders and buckled his knees on the strike-three breaking ball. A visual:

craig-kimbrel-giancarlo-stanton.jpg
Kimbrel locked up Stanton with a strike three breaking ball in ALDS Game 1. MLB.com screen grab

"I wasn't able to get it done. I should have put the ball in play," Stanton said to reporters, including NJ.com's Randy Miller, following Game 1. "I had pitches to hit in the zone that I fouled off. I didn't get to them ... You can't give them too many strikes in the zone like that or you're going to end up having a game like I did."

Predictably, Stanton's four-strikeout Game 1 drew the ire of the New York tabloids Saturday morning. Here's a sampling of the back pages:

Yeah, that'll happen when strike out four times against the Red Sox in the postseason. Through two postseason games (Wild Card Game and ALDS Game 1), Stanton is 2 for 8 with a home run, a walk, and five strikeouts. This is his first taste of October baseball. The Marlins never reached the postseason during Stanton's eight years in Miami.