Red Sox’ Josh Winckowski throws shade at Yankees lineup after fat loss

Red Sox starter Josh Winckowski has to be trolling now, right? …Right? ………..Right? After losing to the New York Yankees on Thursday night in a tight, 6-5 contest where he allowed all six runs to score, he can’t really be running his mouth about the B-Team lineup that just walloped him?

Winckowski went to battle in the all-important series opener at Fenway as both a fill-in starter from Triple-A and Boston’s second-best arm in the current rotation, as they await Nathan Eovaldi and Chris Sale’s returns from rehab/meltdowns.

He’d been on an impressive run lately, allowing no more than two earned runs in any of his four starts following his second call-up in mid-June. Of all the possible tone-setters for the Sox, he seemed like a fairly decent one. Perhaps that’s why he continued to set a stereotypically Bostonian tone in the postgame locker room after getting pummeled by a struggling Josh Donaldson and a resurgent Aaron Hicks.

Winckowski did not win Thursday’s game. In fact, his team likely would’ve triumphed if not for his incompetence, thanks to Rafael Devers’ star turn. But that didn’t stop him from talking trash in reverse order, claiming the Yankees’ lineup didn’t impress him only after those same unimpressive people blew up his WHIP.

Was Winckowski speaking truth? Sure. The Yankees lineup doesn’t look quite the same without Anthony Rizzo or Aaron Judge, both off on Thursday nursing issues. But that actually makes it worse, not better, that he got whipped. And yet…

Red Sox starter Josh Winckowski throws shade at Yankees after they beat him

For a refresher course, here’s how Winckowski fared against a lineup that “felt like any other big league lineup”: 5 IP, 6 ER, 5 BB, 2 SO, 2 HR. Damn. Sounds like someone who might not be ready for the big leagues.

After the fifth, the Red Sox bullpen showed Winckowski how to attack a lineup missing its two purest run producers, sending the Yankees back to the dugout repeatedly with just one baserunner to their name in the final four frames.

Winckowski is no stranger to rousing rabble after losing. In fact, he did it last week after losing to the Chicago Cubs, taking a shot at the Wrigley Field atmosphere.

Again, that’s after a loss to a rebuilding team.

No word yet on whether Winckowski called his mom after losing the opener Thursday to share his thoughts on Clay Holmes’ overrated 2022 season, “to be honest”. Our man Winck is on a “to be honest” streak.

The worst part? Some Boston fans — of course — loved it, so poisoned by their propensity for trash talk that they now believe it should occur after finishing on the wrong side of history. Winning? Eh. As long as we can get a good dig in, screamed from the bottom of a well and drowned out by the Yankees’ postgame celebration, that’d be good enough.

Three more of these games for the 2022 Red Sox to prove they’re the collapsing 2011 Red Sox with the 2018 Red Sox’ bravado. Let’s hope it continues.

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