With the amount of hype coming into Friday night’s series opener with the Yankees (82-65) at Fenway Park, I expected the Red Sox (81-67) offense to come out with a little bit of juice.

The park was filled to the brim.

Pedro Martinez was in the house to throw out the first pitch.

The Apple TV+ crew was on the call (apologies to the boomers who had trouble with this).

The Hall of Famer Joe Castiglione made a spot start for WEEI on the radio - which I hope you all heard using Apple’s cool feature where you can choose from either team’s home radio call instead of the Apple TV booth (great self awareness out of them).

And not for nothing, there was an October baseball cool to the air that somehow gave the game a little more weight, reminding everyone in attendance what should be coming back to Boston in just a few short weeks for the first time since 2021.

Instead, the offense fell completely flat, and the Red Sox dropped the series opener to New York 4-1.

Here’s nine takeaways from a tough watch at Fenway:

1. Boston offense goes ghost, almost gets no-hit

If you were in the stands half-paying attention, you might not have realized you were watching a starting pitcher in Luis Gil (4-1, 2.83 ERA) in midst of throwing a no hitter.

Gil was walking guys, Yankees were committing errors in the field, and wild pitches and balks were advancing runners.

Amidst the chaos, Gil was, indeed, tossing a no-no, and did so all the way through the end of the sixth inning. At 93 pitches, Yankees manager Aaron Boone opted to pull the righty for the seventh.

Two batters into the inning with two outs, utility man Nate Eaton hit a solo shot to briefly put Boston fans out of their misery. The no hitter was gone, and for a moment there was hope the Red Sox offense could use this homer to catapult themselves back into the game. And with Ceddanne Rafaela taking a walk in the next at bat, the crowd had life again.

Jarren Duran promptly struck out, boos rained down, and the inning was over.

The Red Sox managed just one more base runner the following two innings, and New York walked away as 4-1 winners.

Boston’s two hits tied on Friday tied a season low, with the other instance coming all the way back on June 17 against the Mariners. They were held to 1-or-0 runs for the third time in their last eight games, and for the 24th time overall in 2025.

These disappearing acts need to disappear from their repertoire, otherwise they may be on the outside-looking-in in a few weeks.

2. Aaron Judge is good at baseball

In the second at bat of the ballgame, Aaron Judge made his presence felt.

With the count 0-1, Judge rocketed a 92 mile per hour four-seamer from Lucas Giolito (10-4, 3.31 ERA) to straight away center, giving the Yankees a 1-0 lead and setting the tone for the evening for New York.

For how poorly he’s played against Boston this season, the man is on a run of all runs this season, almost certainly in-line to run away with his second career AL MVP Award (-900 at FanDuel as of publishing).

Judge by the numbers:

- Hit his 362nd career home run, passing Joe DiMaggio for sole possession of fourth most in Yankees franchise history, trailing only Babe Ruth (659), Mickey Mantle (536), and Lou Gehrig (493). Hate the Yankees all you want, but that’s the definition of elite company.

- Hit his 19th first inning homer this season, the most in a single season in MLB history. This passed his own record of 18 first inning homers set just last year, which previously had him tied with Alex Rodriguez’s 2001 mark with the Rangers (gross).

- His 84 career first inning homers are tied with Lou Gehrig for third most in Yankees history, behind Babe Ruth (126) and Mickey Mantle (103)

- He’s batting .333 with a 1.265 OPS over his last 15 games (17 for 51, 18 R, 2B, 7 HR, 8 RBI, 15 BB, 2 HBP)

- His first inning home run went 468 feet, the longest home run hit at Fenway Park this season, and is the longest since his own 470-foot home run in July of last year

I may have just gone overboard with Judge numbers, but it can’t be overstated how good this guy has been this season. The man knows how to set a tone in a baseball game - a massive advantage for a team that lacks consistency on offense.

3. Another day, another catcher’s interference

Carlos Narvaez committed his league-leading sixth catcher’s interference in the third inning, leading to a Yankees run.

Judge walked with two outs and nobody on base. First baseman Ben Rice then reached on Narvaez’s interference, and right fielder Cody Bellinger hit an RBI single to make it a 2-0 ballgame.

In a game where the bats were nowhere to be found for Boston, an extra run for New York was a devastating blow. Had the interference not occurred the inning would have been over. A truly brutal momentum swing.

With that said, manager Alex Cora didn’t seem too bothered by it postgame, saying that Narvaez being “closer” this season is by design, and that the good from that placement is outweighing the bad (routine interference calls).

Here’s what Cora had to say about it postgame:

I have a sinking feeling that an interference call is going to cost the Red Sox a game this postseason. Mark my words. I hope I’m wrong, but it’s a gut feel at the moment.

4. Red Sox fans have taken back Fenway Park

Let’s go positive for a second.

In recent years, it has almost felt like a Yankees home game at Fenway Park when New York has been in town, regardless of the standings or placement of the series on the calendar.

Massive fan base. Driving distance from the Tri-state area. Iconic brand. I sort of get it.

But this is Fenway f’ing Park, and those are the f’ing Yankees.

The home field advantage is supposed to be 99% in favor of Boston when they’re playing anyone at home, not just the Bronx Bombers.

So my heart was warmed on Friday when I noticed the Yankee roar was more muted than it has been over the last five-six years during these games.

I’m not sure if that came through on the telecast, but that’s how I felt sitting behind home plate.

Red Sox fans will support this team if you give them a reason to do so. And when they do, it’s a decided advantage for them at their old, quirky park in Kenmore Square.

Now they need to win enough down the home stretch of the season to maximize their ability to take advantage of this unique tool in the tool belt.

5. RISP remains a major, major issue

All season long, this has been a massive problem for an offense that, at times, has been among the best in all of baseball.

Heading into Friday, Boston ranked 14th in batting average with runners in scoring position (.253), 15th in on base percentage (.335) and 13th in slugging (.425).

And on Friday, it was an issue yet again.

With one out in the bottom of the fifth, Boston had a man on second and third after a balk by Gil sent Narvaez to the hot corner.

David Hamilton was the man on the second. All you needed to do was get the ball into the outfield in any capacity, and the speedster was going to score.

Rafaela struck out, Duran lined out, and yet another opportunity was blown for an offense that couldn’t afford it on Friday.

Here’s what Cora had to say about his team’s struggles with RISP postgame:

6. I felt Roman Anthony’s absence on Friday

On a night where Boston gets two-hit, it’s not all-that-revelatory to say the Red Sox could have used one of their best hitter’s bats back in the lineup.

Like Judge, Anthony is the type of guy that sets a tone at the dish. It’s only a short sample size, but the 21-year-old has done nothing but deliver for Boston over the last two months after taking a beat to find his groove in the majors.

This oblique strain is brutal.

He’s one week into the four-to-six week window that the team announced as a timeframe for his return, and Cora said pregame that he’s still in the receiving-treatment-phase of his rehab.

That doesn’t feel like a player closer to the four-week side of that window, does it?

They need this kid to make some sort of return in a meaningful way in October to have any real chance of going on a run.

The offensive displays out in Sacramento were a nice distraction from how badly this lineup misses their superstar rookie.

7. Pedro Martinez is as electric as ever

Anytime No. 45 is in the building at Fenway Park, it feels special.

Bringing Pedro out for the ceremonial first pitch against a franchise he has such a rich history against was such a brilliant move. And having him toss to A-Rod mauler Jason Varitek was the cherry on top.

It unfortunately didn’t set the intended tone by Boston, but it doesn’t change how I feel about what Pedro’s aura can do for you moving forward.

Here’s two Pedro moments from Friday that will have anyone who loves the Hall of Fame righty smiling from ear to ear:

Never change.

8. Please don’t pick up Cora’s tab

Something from pregame with Cora that made me laugh was when he was asked about how he could tell the city was fired up for this weekend’s series with the Yankees:

“Went to Legal Sea Foods for the first time in months, and two people offered to pay the check. I was like, ‘Wow, this is going well.’ And then we went to the Seaport, some of the coaches, Sam [Kennedy] was there, too, just to have fun. And you can tell that everybody's excited about the team, the weekend. And hopefully we can come through.”

First of all, Boston is the best. I ask that you, as well, never change.

But as a PSA to any friendly massholes who see Cora out and about in the greater Boston region moving forward - do not waste your money picking up this man’s tab. Ever.

The man is making north of $7 million a year to be the manager of this team, and that’s after a playing career where he made almost $15 million over the course of 14 years in the bigs.

He has plenty of money. Put your wallet away and ask for a picture instead.

9. Saturday has become a must-win

I’ve already gone in-depth this week on why the Red Sox need to win this series. No need to rehash it.

They’ve put themselves behind the 8-ball here to lose the series opener. They’re now forced to win two in a row against one of the better teams in the American League.

Yes, they’re 8-3 on the season against the Yankees. But don’t look now - New York has a two game winning streak going against you. The tide can turn quickly with these things.

Lucky for Boston, they’ll have Brayan Bello (11-6, 3.12 ERA) on the mound for game two. He’s 5-3 in his career against the Yankees with an ERA of 1.95 to go along with 49 strikeouts across 10 appearances overall.

Unlucky for Boston, they’ll be facing ace Max Fried (16-5, 3.02 ERA), who Boston unsuccessfully attempted to sign this past offseason before the Yankees gave him an eight-year, $218 million contract.

If Friday had a playoff feel pregame, Saturday is going to have an elimination angst.

Don’t lose this game.

Tom Carroll is a contributor for Roundtable, with boots-on-the-ground coverage of all things Boston sports. He's a digital content producer for WEEI.com, and a native of Lincoln, RI.