A pitcher’s duel unfolded in the Bronx early Sunday afternoon, and with it the latest reminder that arms aren’t the root cause of the 2026 Boston Red Sox’s problems.

After Sunday’s game was delayed 20 minutes from its 1:35 p.m. ET scheduled first pitch, Red Sox starter Ranger Suarez was perfect through the first three innings while New York Yankees starter Cam Schlittler was effectively wild for much of his 5 2/3 innings.

But when all was said and done the Yankees took Sunday’s game 6-1 because they did what the Red Sox too often don’t this season: create and capitalize on scoring opportunities.

Schlittler’s command wasn’t close to the devastating level the Red Sox saw in Game 3 of last year’s wild-card round, but he had more than enough to get by, thanks in large part because the opposing lineup let him off the hook. The Red Sox were 0 for 2 with runners in scoring position during Schlittler’s innings, and charged him with just one earned run on four hits, one walk and five strikeouts.

Boston batters opted not to challenge several Schlittler pitches out of the zone, but that was only a small piece of the problem pie. They managed just five baserunners against Schlittler, and wasted the first three: Ceddanne Rafaela’s one-out single in the first, Anthony Seigler’s leadoff walk in the third and two-out double in the fifth.

Frenetic winds robbed Wilyer Abreu of a go-ahead two-run homer in the sixth, but Willson Contreras’ subsequent line drive made contact with the left-field wall for a game-tying RBI double and knocked Schlittler out of the game. But righty reliever Fernando Cruz needed two pitches to retire Masataka Yoshida and end the threat.

Seigler made his first start for the Red Sox, batting eighth and playing second base. He reached base twice. Seigler also successfully utilized the ABS system when he led off the third with a walk, but advanced no further than second base as Schlittler retired the next three men in order.

Mickey Gasper led off the seventh with a single and Andruw Monasterio, pinch-hitting for Seigler, greeted left-hander Brent Headrick with a one-out single. But Isiah Kiner-Falefa grounded into an inning-ending double play to quash Boston’s best scoring bid of the afternoon.

Suarez held the Yankees to one earned run on six hits, issued zero walks and struck out six in 6 1/3 innings. He threw 90 pitches, 59 for strikes and racked up 17 swing-and-misses.

The Sox southpaw’s perfect game bid ended when the Yankees loaded the bases with two outs in the fourth on a Paul Goldschmidt leadoff single, one-out single by left-fielder Cody Bellinger and two-out single by Trent Grisham. Suarez escaped thanks to an Anthony Volpe lineout, but New York took a 1-0 lead the following frame on a José Caballero double and Paul Goldschmidt RBI single that looped just out of Abreu’s reach in right field. Boston is 7-25 when opponents score first.

Suarez was in elite form as he navigated around a Grisham two-out double in the sixth, and briefly returned for the bottom of the seventh. Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy was in aggressive management mode, and came out to take the ball from his starter after a leadoff strikeout to Jazz Chisholm Jr.

Suarez didn’t look happy as he returned to the visitors’ dugout and watched righty Tyron Guerrero take the mound. But a quick snag and throw to first by Gasper retired Caballero for the second out of the seventh, and Suarez’s frustration didn’t prevent him from looking impressed when Guerrero ended the inning by getting Yankees prospect Spencer Jones swinging on a 102.8 mph sinker.

With top set-up man Garrett Whitlock rehabbing in Triple-A Worcester, fellow righty reliever Justin Slaten took the mound for the bottom of the eighth. Slaten began in top form, overpowering Goldschmidt and likely American League MVP contender Ben Rice, but Bellinger retook the lead for New York with a home run to right-center, and the pitch in question proved the thread that unraveled the entire fabric of the frame. Third baseman Amed Rosario followed with a single, stole second and scored New York’s third run, on Grisham’s RBI single. Grisham’s steal of second, and Slaten’s walk to Volpe, necessitated another pitching change.

On came lefty Joe La Sorsa, acquired last week from the Pittsburgh Pirates, to make his Red Sox debut. And Chisholm greeted him with a first-pitch three-run homer that doubled New York’s lead.

Yankees closer David Bednar made easy work of Contreras, Yoshida and Gasper in the top of the ninth. The Yankees bullpen retired the last seven Sox from Kiner-Falefa’s seventh-inning double play on.

The series will remain split until Aug. 29, when the Red Sox play a split doubleheader to recoup the June 7 rainout.

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