What Red Sox need to 'avoid' to win Game 2 vs. Yankees

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What Red Sox need to 'avoid' to win Game 2 vs. Yankees originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

It was a rough night for the Boston Red Sox. 

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New York Yankees ace Cam Schlittler dominated the lineup for 6.1 innings, and Ben Rice tore up Boston's pitching staff. 

Rice had six RBIs, four of them on one swing in the bottom of the eighth to increase New York's lead to 9-0. 

For the Red Sox to force a Game 3, there are two significant things they need to do, ESPN's Jeff Passan wrote. 

"For starters, scoring a run would help. And perhaps avoiding middle-middle fastballs to Ben Rice would do the trick," Passan wrote. 

Reliever Erik Miller replaced starter Payton Tolle with two outs in the fifth inning.

The southpaw grooved a fastball in the middle of the plate to Rice, who took the pitch 423 feet over the center field wall. The Yankees DH went 4-for-5. 

As for scoring a run, the Red Sox couldn't find any momentum against Schlittler, who struck out 10 and threw a career-high 117 pitches. 

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Their task doesn't get much easier on Wednesday, as Max Fried takes the ball for the Yankees in Game 2. 

However, the lineup is probably grateful to see anyone other than Schlittler on the mound. 

Sonny Gray will take the ball for the Red Sox, and he's been a reliable starter all year. But it won't matter if Boston's offense continues to let its September struggles linger. 

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