BOSTON — For the second night in a row, the Yankees and Red Sox played a back-and-forth game at Fenway Park on Saturday. This time, the visitors prevailed with an 11-8 win when an Austin Wells sac fly and a two-run double from Gleyber Torres gave the Yankees the lead for good in the 10th inning.
The victory snapped a three-game losing streak for the Yankees. But before the extra-inning heroics, a back-and-forth contest saw momentum shift multiple times.
With a two-run homer from Juan Soto and a solo shot from Aaron Judge in consecutive first-inning at-bats, it looked as if the Yankees might snap their three-game losing streak with ease. Instead, Marcus Stroman matched Kutter Crawford’s three earned runs in the first.
Handed a 3-0 lead before taking the mound, Stroman served up a solo homer to Wilyer Abreu two batters into his start. Tyler O’Neill then evened things up by smacking a two-run double past a diving Trent Grisham.
The Yankees got a run in the second on Oswaldo Cabrera’s first homer since June 9 — Abreu nearly made a sensational catch while falling into Fenway’s right field seats — but the Yankees coughed that lead up, too.
To start the bottom of the second, Anthony Volpe made his 11th error of the season. Ceddanne Rafaela then singled before the Sox pulled off a double steal on an inattentive Stroman. Jarren Duran followed with a game-tying single before a Masataka Yoshida single gave Boston a 5-4 lead.
The Sox could have done more damage, but the Yankees threw Rafaela out while he was foolishly chatting with third base coach Kyle Hudson while not standing on the bag.
Stroman didn’t allow another run after that, but he also didn’t pitch much longer. Aaron Boone pulled the righty after 3.1 innings, nine hits, five runs (3 earned), one walk and zero strikeouts over a season-low 60 pitches. Stroman didn’t have much help from his defense — his evening ended after Volpe and Torres turned a soft line drive into a double — but the pitcher permitted 10 hard-hit balls.
Stroman’s short night continued an abysmal stretch for Yankees starters. According the Stathead’s Katie Sharp, the rotation’s 6.09 ERA since June 15 is the worst in the majors. No other team had a mark above 5.70.
Judge, who reached base a career-high six times, tied the game yet again in the fifth, roping an RBI single after Alex Verdugo doubled. However, O’Neill took Jake Cousins over The Green Monster in the bottom of the frame as the Yankees relinquished another lead.
Cohasset, Massachusetts native Ben Rice knotted things with a sac fly in the seventh, but O’Neill went over The Monster again in the bottom of the inning with Michael Tonkin on the mound. It was the 100th homer of O’Neill’s career.
David Hamilton then added an RBI double before the Yankees scored another on a Judge two-bagger in the eighth. Soto tried to make it two, but he was easily gunned down at the plate after blowing through a stop sign from third base coach Luis Rojas.
Still, the Yankees kept fighting, as Grisham tied things at eight with an RBI double off Fenway’s big green wall in the ninth. Clay Holmes then delivered a clean inning before the Yankees took the lead in the 10th. Holmes ended things in the bottom of the 10th as well — doing so a night after coming up short in a five-out save opportunity.
Now 16-26 since June 7, the Yankees still have some holes to address before the July 30 trade deadline. The Bombers already acquired Jazz Chisholm Jr. from the Marlins on Saturday afternoon — he could impact Torres’ standing on the team — but they clearly need more than that.
In the meantime, the Yanks will try for a win in Sunday’s series finale with Carlos Rodón on the hill. Tanner Houck will start for Boston.
