Rafael Devers torments the Yankees again with two home runs as the Red Sox win the series

On one magical Saturday, Ben Rice did something no Yankee rookie had ever done before: He hit three home runs, and his team did something they suddenly rarely do anymore: They won a game.

One night later, the fairy dust had disappeared.

The glorious past has become a grim reality that has become the present.

A weakening offense and a weakening club lost every trace of momentum and fell back into their depression.

The Yankees lost another series in disheartening fashion, suffering a 3-0 loss to the Red Sox in front of 45,250 spectators in the Bronx on Sunday night.

The Yankees’ (55-37) nosedive — who have lost 15 of 20 games and are three games behind the Orioles in the AL East — began in mid-June in Boston, and they have not won a series since, going seven games in a row without a series win.

After scoring 14 runs in Saturday’s hoped-for win, the Yankees remained scoreless for the sixth time this season.

A day for the history books was followed by a night to forget for Rice: He went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.

For the second year in a row, manager Aaron Boone left his struggling starting pitcher on the mound to face Rafael Devers, and for the second year in a row, the move backfired.

After the Red Sox All-Star hit a home run off Gerrit Cole with his last pitch on Saturday, Devers caught a Luis Gil fastball through the middle in the seventh inning and saved it just over the left outfield boundary to end the scoreless tie.

Gil was taken out of the game two batters later.

Ceddanne Rafaela destroyed a cutter by Luke Weaver, sending him deep into the left field seats in the eighth inning.

Devers, a certified Yankees killer, victimized Michael Tonkin in the ninth inning and hit his second home run, closing the scoring on a night when the Yankees were powerless against Kutter Crawford and two Boston relievers.

Seldom have the Yankees had as much trouble as they did against Crawford, who was barely touched but also barely broke a sweat on this muggy evening.

The right-hander threw just 68 pitches in seven strong innings, allowing four hits and zero walks.

The Yankees offense had few chances and took advantage of none of them.

Their best chance came in the seventh inning when Juan Soto started with a gapped double to right center field.

But Aaron Judge failed in one of his rare at-bat moves against Crawford where he seemed outnumbered, Alex Verdugo was grounded out, and Anthony Volpe was grounded out with a line drive to left, leaving Soto standing on third base.

The Yankees offense managed just four hits, spoiling Gil’s best start in over a month.

The previously struggling right-hander, who had come out of nowhere and pitched like an ace for two and a half months, had run into significant trouble in his last three appearances.

Gil, who is playing his first full season as a pitcher since Tommy John surgery, has often been questioned about the fatigue in his arm.

He answered many of those questions by hitting 99.3 mph with his fastball and averaging 97.7 mph with his pitch.

Gil was back in his dominant form, allowing only Devers’ home run in 6 ²/₃ innings with nine strikeouts and no walks.

He was often untouchable, but in a different way than earlier this season.

The 26-year-old almost ignored his changeup, which had become his standard variation, and used it on only 15 of his 96 throws.

Instead, Gil started with his fastball and often finished with his slider, which caused six whiffs and kept Boston off balance.

Gil looked like himself again – but so did the Yankees’ offense in June and July.