Garrett Whitlock, whom the Yankees did not protect in the Rule 5 draft last December and was plucked by Boston, has ended their season.

Giancarlo Stanton hit a meaningless home run against the Red Sox's best reliever in the ninth, but the Red Sox advance to play Tampa Bay with a 6-2 victory in the wild-card game.

The Yankees have a lot of work to do after an up-and-down season and predominantly down playoff game, in which they were out-hit, outhomered, blundered on the bases and walked seven batters. So much went wrong, and so much has to be addressed. Read more.

Gerrit Cole has not been the only Yankees pitcher who appears out of gas.

Jonathan Loaisiga couldn't find the strike zone and walked two in the seventh before being lifted for Chad Green, whose walk to Xander Bogaerts loaded the bases. With two outs, Alex Verdugo singled in two and was thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a double. Yankees pitchers have issued seven walks; Boston pitchers have issued zero.

The Yankees have their biggest deficit of the game, Fenway Park is ready to burst and the Rays are game-planning for Boston. Get Bucky Dent into the batter's box.

Nathan Eovaldi dominated the Yankees in Game 3 of the 2018 ALDS, too.

His postseason career in a pair of starts against his former team: 12 1/3 innings, two runs, 13 strikeouts, nine hits, one walk. If only the Yankees could get a big-game pitcher like that. (We kid, we kid.)

The Yankees have six outs left.

Post photographer Charles Wenzelberg captured the crucial play at the plate -- Aaron Judge reaching in vain as Red Sox catcher Kevin Plawecki applies the tag.

Remember when the Yankees had some momentum? Some decisions in the top of the sixth did not work out for them, and the Red Sox are taking advantage.

After a poor decision by Yankees third-base coach Phil Nevin ended with Aaron Judge getting nailed at the plate, an aggressive Xander Bogaerts scored from first on an Alex Verdugo double to rebuild the Red Sox's three-run cushion.

It knocked out Luis Severino, who had been solid in relief. Bogaerts, who homered in the first, has been the best player on the field.

From Nathan Eovaldi's outing to big punches from the Boston bats to excellent defense, the Red Sox are playing a nearly flawless game.

The Yankees have made yet another mistake.

Giancarlo Stanton's lack of hustle turned a first-inning double into a single. Kyle Higashioka took a fifth-inning at-bat even after Gerrit Cole had been knocked out, a weird decision by Aaron Boone not to pinch-hit Gary Sanchez. And Phil Nevin just waved Aaron Judge around so he could be easily gunned down at the plate.

Stanton launched a second rocket off the Green Monster, this one in the top of the sixth with Judge on first. Kiké Hernandez relayed in to Xander Bogaerts, whose perfectly placed throw nailed Judge, even with a nifty slide. Nevin, the third-base coach, should not have given that green light.

The Yankees could have had one out with runners on the corners (because Stanton again was not running) and instead wound up with Stanton on second with two outs. Joey Gallo, perhaps another mistake, then popped out.

Anthony Rizzo joined Kyle Schwarber in going yard. If only the Mets could have gotten Javier Baez to the postseason.

Rizzo waited for a Nathan Eovaldi breaking ball to stray across the plate and hooked it around the Pesky Pole to put the Yankees within two.

It was the first run for the Yankees on just their third hit, and Aaron Judge followed with an infield single to knock out Eovaldi. The Yankees have gotten to the Boston bullpen, which is a good sign for New York.

Aaron Boone receives a good chunk of criticism pretty much whenever he plays Gary Sanchez. It's time for him to get some flak for not playing Gary Sanchez.

Kyle Higashioka, a poor hitter, was in the lineup so he could catch Gerrit Cole. Cole was knocked out in the third inning. So why did Higashioka take a fifth-inning at-bat?

The Yankees added Rob Brantly to the roster so they always could have an emergency catcher. The assumption was that Higashioka would stick with Cole, and then Sanchez's roughly league-average bat (poor contact but good power) could be subbed in.

Instead, Higashioka struck out for a second time.

Yankees hitters saw 24,858 pitches this season. If that sounds like a lot, it is! The most in all of baseball. The Yankees averaged 4.10 pitches per plate appearance, the most in MLB by a good chunk; Seattle was second at 4.00.

This is significant because the Boston bullpen is the team's weak link, which made the thought of a short Nathan Eovaldi outing especially appealing to the Yankees. But either the Yankees have been uncharacteristically aggressive thus far or Eovaldi has been especially sharp and in the strike zone.

Through five innings, Eovaldi has thrown just 64 pitches (and 47 strikes). A Yankees-Red Sox matchup is going surprisingly quickly, which is trouble for the Yankees.

Good: Clay Holmes, who got the ground ball he needed from Alex Verdugo to escape a jam he inherited from Gerrit Cole.

Bad: Joey Gallo, 0-for-2 with a strikeout tonight and now 2-for-25 with 13 Ks and zero extra-base hits dating back to the finish of his season.

The most important midseason addition, through the first three-and-a-half innings of the wild-card game, has been Kyle Schwarber.

Gerrit Cole did not have it, and Aaron Boone could not wait for him to find it.

In stunning fashion, the Yankees' $324 million ace is done after recording six outs and allowing three runs (so far) in the wild-card game. He gave up two homers, walked two and threw 50 pitches before the Yankees turned to Clay Holmes, who was in charge of stranding the two runner whom Cole left on base.

The Yankees' bullpen has been a big strength of the team, but this is the worst-case scenario.

Kyle Schwarber, who has been on fire the past few weeks, demolished a Cole fastball to right field for a 3-0 Red Sox lead.

The Yankees' bullpen already is active. The Yankees are 1) in a hole; 2) uncertain about their pitching situation and 3) geared more for defensive prowess than offensive firepower. Kyle Higashioka started because he is Cole's personal catcher, though Gary Sanchez is the better hitter. Andrew Velazquez is the shortstop for a few reasons, but chief among them is he is the surest-handed fielder on the team at that spot.

If Cole exits early, it will be interesting to see whether Sanchez checks in. The Yankees added third-string catcher Rob Brantly to the roster, so they could be covered if, say, an injury struck Sanchez.