The Red Sox ended their first series of the season against the Yankees the same way they started it: with a 3-2 win. In need of a victory to avoid dropping a fourth straight series, Boston scratched and clawed its way to a hard-fought, one-run triumph over New York on Sunday night to get back to .500 at 33-33 on the season.
With over 46,000 on hand at Yankee Stadium, the Red Sox drew first blood against Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt in the second inning. To lead off the top half of the frame, Justin Turner took Schmidt 373 feet to right-center field for his eighth home run of the year.
Despite falling behind by a run early on, it did not take the Yankees long to respond. Brayan Bello, making his 10th start of the season for the Sox, worked a 1-2-3 first inning but ran into some trouble in the bottom of the second by issuing a leadoff walk to Josh Donaldson and a two-out ground-rule double to Billy McKinney.
Jose Trevino came to the plate with two outs and runners at second and third. Bello got Trevino to hit what looked to be a routine grounder up the middle, but the ball actually deflected off the second-base bag, eluding an awaiting Enrique Hernandez and rolling all the way to shallow center field. As a result, both Donaldson and McKinney scored to give New York its first lead of the night at 2-1.
A half-inning later, more weirdness occurred on the base paths. After reaching base via a one-out single, Jarren Duran was prepared to take off for second when Alex Verdugo ripped a groundball to the right side of the infield. Incidentally, the ball struck Duran on his way to second base and he was ruled out as a result.
Bello, meanwhile, settled in after a somewhat rocky second inning. The right-hander retired 14 of the final 17 final batters he faced and wound up allowing just the two runs on three hits and two walks to go along with three strikeouts over seven strong innings of work.
Finishing with 98 pitches (63 strikes), Bello induced seven swings-and-misses while averaging 93.8 mph and topping out at 96.7 mph with his four-seam fastball. The 24-year-old did not factor into Sunday’s decision, but he did lower his ERA on the season to 3.78.
With Bello’s night done, the Red Sox lineup went back to work in the top of the eighth. Opposed by Yankees reliever Michael King, Hernandez led off with a single to left field and immediately advanced to second after second baseman Gleyber Torres got careless and let the throw back to the infield get by him.
Hernandez took advantage of the error by moving up into scoring position and Reese McGuire followed by drawing a five-pitch walk. Pablo Reyes then laid down a nicely-placed sacrifice bunt to advance both runners an additional 90 feet and set the stage for Duran, who knotted things up at 2-2 by plating Hernandez from third on an RBI groundout to the right side.
Following scoreless innings out of the bullpen from Nick Pivetta and Kenley Jansen, the Red Sox found themselves in extras for the first time since April 29. To lead off the top of the 10th, Triston Casas advanced the pinch-running Adam Duvall up to third base on a hard-hit groundout off Ron Marinaccio.
With the possible go-ahead run just 90 feet away and the Yankees infield playing in, Hernandez delivered by lacing a 103.3 mph single past an outstretched Anthony Volpe at shortstop. Duvall easily scored from third to put the Sox back up, 3-2, going into the bottom of the 10th.
Having already used Jansen, Red Sox manager Alex Cora tasked Chris Martin with getting the three most important outs of the night. Martin, in turn, allowed the potential tying run to move up to third on a fly out before punching out both Trevino and Volpe to notch his first save of 2023.
Next up: Back home to host the Rockies
On the heels of a 3-3 road trip, the Red Sox will return home and welcome the Colorado Rockies into town for the start of six-game homestand at Fenway Park.
In Monday night’s series opener, veteran left-hander James Paxton will get the start for Boston while Colorado will counter by sending former Red Sox farmhand Connor Seabold to the hill against his old team.
First pitch from Fenway Park on Monday is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. eastern time on NESN.
(Picture of Enrique Hernandez: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
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