BOSTON _ The Yankees were right.
There was no carryover from the brawling of the previous night.
But no carryover from their offense, either.
Held hitless by Rick Porcello through six innings, the Yankees went quietly into another chilly New England night until the ninth inning in a 6-3 loss to the Red Sox in front of 36,341 at Fenway Park on Thursday night.
Gary Sanchez's three-run double into the triangle in right-center with none out in the ninth made the game interesting, but Craig Kimbrel then relieved Marcus Walden and restored order. He got Aaron Hicks on a grounder and struck out Neil Walker and Tyler Wade to end it.
After Wednesday's 10-7 victory, a game disrupted by a bench-clearing incident that resulted in Tyler Austin of the Yankees and Joe Kelly of the Red Sox earning suspensions, the Yankees managed only four hits in falling to 6-7.
The Red Sox, who got seven shutout innings from Porcello (3-0) in which he allowed two hits and struck out six, improved to an AL-best 10-2. Aaron Judge's leadoff double to center in the seventh broke up Porcello's no-hitter and Giancarlo Stanton followed with an infield single, but Porcello struck out two of the next three.
The Yankees still have not been held hitless since six Astros did it to them on June 11, 2003 at the previous Yankee Stadium. The last single pitcher to no-hit them was Hoyt Wilhelm on Sept. 20, 1958 in Baltimore.
Before the game, referring to Wednesday's fireworks, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said, "I would think it's absolutely behind us. We're here to play tonight."
They did, but not well.
Sonny Gray (1-1) was dreadful in his third start of the season, allowing six runs and seven hits in three innings. The right-hander, whose ERA ballooned to 6.92, was pulled after allowing Mitch Moreland's leadoff single in the fourth. Right-hander Domingo German replaced him and allowed one hit in three scoreless innings.
The Yankees were sloppy in the field, the continuation of an early-season trend. They committed their 13th error, most in the American League.
Andrew Benintendi singled with one out in the first and Gray hit Hanley Ramirez near the right wrist with a 1-and-0 pitch that came in at 94 mph. Ramirez, 3-for-5 with a homer and four RBIs the first two games of the series, was replaced by Moreland. Gray got out of it when J.D. Martinez flied to right and Rafael Devers flied to Stanton on the track in left.
Gray was not as fortunate an inning later.
Eduardo Nunez led off with an infield single and Jackie Bradley Jr. walked. After Nunez went to third on a wild pitch, Sandy Leon grounded an RBI single to right. A walk to Brock Holt loaded the bases and Mookie Betts' sacrifice fly to deep center made it 2-0 and advanced both runners. Benintendi then grounded one to second where Wade charged the ball and fired home to try for Leon. His throw came in low and skipped past Sanchez to make it 3-0.
Moreland followed with an RBI single to left for a 4-0 lead. Gray did keep it there, striking out Martinez and retiring Devers on a grounder to short.
One of the uglier innings of the season arrived in the bottom of the third.
Nunez led off with a double and Bradley lifted a high fly to short left. Stanton seemed to lose the ball in the rain that was coming down hard at the time. It dropped in play behind him and to his left for a ground-rule double that made it 5-0.
Leon then swung and missed at a curveball in the dirt, but the ball went through Sanchez's legs. Rather than throw to first to retire Leon, Sanchez saw Bradley take off for third and threw there, but Bradley beat the throw with a headfirst dive. Gray struck out Holt looking, but Betts' RBI groundout made it 6-0.
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