Red Sox bullpen prevents Richard Fitts from winning his first MLB game

But the Red Sox bullpen has become the uninvited guest that shows up at the party, eats everything, and falls asleep on your couch.

It happened again when Zack Kelly and Cam Booser combined to allow five runs in the seventh inning, four of them on a grand slam by Aaron Judge that felt like the most predictable home run in baseball history.

The Sox suffered a bitter 5-4 defeat.

Many players looked stunned as they sat at their lockers after the game. The clubhouse was so quiet that you could hear “New York, New York” chanting around the stadium through the door leading to the field.

“This is a tough number,” said manager Alex Cora.

After taking a 4-0 lead in the seventh inning on Trevor Story's first home run of the season, Cora needed nine outs from the bullpen.

Justin Slaten, who pitched the sixth inning, was absent. He also wanted to avoid using Chris Martin for a third consecutive game.

His first pick was Zack Kelley, who allowed a six-pitch walk to Anthony Volpe, then trailed 0-2 Verdugo and then allowed a walk.

“You have to throw strikes. You have to throw strikes,” Cora said. “We're up 4-0, eighth and ninth batters are at bat. We have to throw strikes.”

Gleyber Torres scored a run with a single. When Juan Soto was at bat, Cora wanted a left-hander and brought in Booser.

He didn't get anywhere near the plate on any of his four pitches against Soto. Booser was down 2-0 against Judge and the next pitch was finally a strike.

The only surprise was that Judge only got 369 feet and not 569 feet.

Kelly and Booser took full responsibility for their mistakes. This has become a recurring theme. The Sox bullpen has a 6.32 earned run average and 15 blown saves since the All-Star break.

Blame Cora for his choices if you want, but it's not like he ignores many better choices.

The fact that Fitts was denied his first win in the major leagues was low on the list of worries. But he deserved better.

The 24-year-old right-hander from Alabama was drafted by the Yankees in 2021. He didn't play in a minor league game until the following season, but pitched well for two years.

The Red Sox took notice, and Fitts was one of three pitching prospects they received from the Yankees for Verdugo, the most significant trade the old rivals had made in decades.

Verdugo was a bust for the Yankees, but the Sox may have hit on something with Fitts.

The rookie had only entered Yankee Stadium on Thursday and had not expected to pitch on Friday. He was a last-minute replacement for Tanner Houck, who was unable to pitch due to lingering shoulder problems.

Fitts learned at practice that he would be a starter, but he never imagined that his first appearance at Yankee Stadium would be as a member of the Sox.

“I'm just super blessed and super grateful to have the opportunity to wear a Red Sox uniform now and hopefully for a long time to come,” Fitts said.

For a few minutes it looked like Fitts would not make it out of the first inning.

He struck out the first two batters, then walked Judge, Austin Wells and Giancarlo Stanton on 18 pitches. Fitts fell behind 3-0 against Jazz Chisholm, but came back and hit a fly ball to center.

“That's something I don't want to do, send three guys to the bench in one inning or generally send three guys to the bench with a walk,” Fitts said.

He got only two more batters on base and finished his outing after striking out 12 of 13.

Fitts has allowed two unearned runs in 10⅔ innings in his first two starts.

Maybe they should make the boy a substitute.

Peter Abraham can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @PeteAbe.