Coming into their first series against each other this season, there was speculation about whether the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry had lost some juice in recent years.
The most problematic lack of juice on Friday night, however, came from the Yankees’ bats.
They teased some late life, but outside of a solo home run from Josh Donaldson, the Yankees offense did not provide much of a punch in a 3-2 loss to the Red Sox in The Bronx.
With two outs in the ninth inning, the Yankees tried to mount one last rally with back-to-back singles from Billy McKinney and Gleyber Torres off Red Sox closer Kenley Jansen.
Anthony Volpe, getting his first taste of the rivalry, sent a charge into the sellout crowd with a long fly ball down the left-field line that hooked foul. But one pitch later, the rookie popped up to end it.
“Screaming at the TV, ‘Stay fair,’” Gerrit Cole, who was watching from the clubhouse, said of Volpe’s foul shot. “It was a good swing. He was under control the whole at-bat, like you would expect. He’s ready for those types of moments and he’ll have success in them as we move along.”
Volpe was hoping he could at least hit the foul pole with the deep fly ball, but instead he estimated it went about 10-20 feet wide.
“It sucks to lose,” manager Aaron Boone said. “But it’s one of those really good games, too, that you’re mixed up in.”
The Yankees (37-28) wasted a solid outing from Cole, who gave up two runs across six innings, as they fell to 2-3 since Aaron Judge went down with a toe injury last weekend in Los Angeles. They were unable to muster much against one-time Yankees prospect Garrett Whitlock, who gave up two runs (only one earned) across 6 ¹/₃ innings in his first start against his former organization.
“I don’t think there’s more pressure [pitching without Judge],” Cole said. “We just miss him. He’s the greatest player in the world, pretty much.
“However long Aaron’s out, we’re going to have to weather the storm. Maybe we’ll learn something from it, improve in some way or another because the game’s going to challenge us in different ways when he’s not on the field.”
This marked the latest in a season the Yankees and Red Sox (32-32) have played their first game since 1996. And while Boston entered the weekend having lost five of its past six and in last place of the dog fight that is the AL East, it spoiled a Friday night for the eventually lively crowd of 46,007.
After Devers doubled and scored in the fourth inning, the Red Sox slugger went deep for a solo shot off Cole in the sixth inning. He belted a low changeup the other way for his seventh career home off Cole — the most the Yankees ace has allowed against any single batter.
Donaldson led off the sixth inning with a home run to Monument Park to make it 2-1 on the Yankees’ only extra-base hit of the night. It was his fourth home run in five starts since coming off the injured list last week.
Albert Abreu relieved Cole to start the seventh inning and gave up a solo shot to Enrique Hernandez that put the Red Sox back up by two runs.
That came back to hurt in the bottom of the inning, when Isiah Kiner-Falefa singled, stole second, took third on a throwing error and then scored on a wild pitch to bring the Yankees within 3-2.
But that was as close as the Yankees would get, as Volpe was unable to pull off a Carlton Fisk and keep a potential game-winning home run fair in the bottom of the ninth.
“[Volpe] controlled the strike zone, got [Jansen] to 3-2, just misses winning the game there down the line,” Boone said. “So I felt like the guys did a lot of things right tonight. We just couldn’t get that big hit in the end or stick one in the seats with the guy on.”
