BOSTON — The Yankees came to Boston expecting to make themselves a threat in the AL East.
Instead, they got swept.
Or, as Aaron Boone called it, “that’s a serious punch in the mouth.”
It was finished off with a 9-2 rout, as Gerrit Cole got knocked around for four runs in the first inning in his worst outing of the season.
The Yankees have lost all six meetings with Boston this season, quickly becoming an afterthought in the AL East.
The defeat dropped them into fourth place in the division — behind the Blue Jays — and moved Boston into first place. The Yankees are 6 ¹/₂ games out of first.
“Everyone was well aware of the importance of this game,’’ Cole said. “It’s a pretty brutal feeling to let the team down like that.”
It was the first time the Yankees were swept by the Red Sox in back-to-back series since 2011.
After Eduardo Rodriguez retired the side in order in the top of the first, Cole had his first pitch of the game hit out by Kiké Hernandez.
The shot over the Green Monster set the tone for the day.
Alex Verdugo followed with a double to right-center and Cole walked J.D. Martinez.
Xander Bogaerts hit a fly ball to left, where a flat-footed Miguel Andujar threw to third, which allowed both Verdugo and Martinez to advance.
Cole then gave up his second homer of the inning, a 451-foot blast to right by Rafael Devers, as Boston took a 4-0 lead just five batters into the game.
Cole crouched behind the mound to collect himself, but it was too late.
He gave up another long homer to Martinez in the third and wasn’t helped by some shoddy defense by Gleyber Torres at short, as Boston took a 6-0 lead.
Cole allowed six runs — five earned — in five innings and has given up five earned runs in three of his last eight starts as he deals with MLB’s crackdown on pitchers using foreign substances.
Rodriguez pitched five scoreless innings before LeMahieu led off the sixth with a single and Judge hit a two-run homer.
Andujar walked with one out in the seventh and Clint Frazier singled to bring up pinch-hitter Gary Sanchez against former Yankee prospect Garrett Whitlock.
Sanchez walked to load the bases for LeMahieu, who struck out looking. Judge followed by popping to first and the Yankees stayed down by four runs.
They went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position, as their inability to produce with runners in scoring position helped doom them again. They finished the series 3-for-18 in those situations.
They’re now 21-23 against teams above .500, have a negative run differential on the season and are in the midst of their fourth losing streak of three or more games in less than a month.
Perhaps worst of all, they fell to 5-14 against the Red Sox and Rays.
“Maybe it’s time to reevaluate how we’re attacking these teams,’’ Kyle Higashioka said.
Asked how the team responds to the latest setback, Cole said, “As best you can when you get punched in the face. Sometimes you’re gonna take hits. You’ve got to keep cool and respond and understand some are gonna land but we’ve been taking some blows and I think we’ve got to start dishing some back.”
They weren’t up for the fight at Fenway.
“We’ve had a number of times this year where you can say it’s only June, but we’ve got our backs against the wall,’’ Boone said. “We take two steps forward and come up here for a big weekend series and take a giant step back. Inconsistency has defined us so far.’’
They’ll return home for a four-game series with the reeling Angels before the Mets come in for the first installment of the Subway Series.
“I still believe in my heart we’re capable of being an elite team,’’ Boone said. “But consistency is gonna prove that or not. We’re creeping up on the halfway point of this season and we’ve had too many highs and lows.”
