BOSTON — Ceddanne Rafaela delivered another huge two-run homer against the Yankees on Friday and manager Alex Cora joked about it.
The Red Sox fell behind 7-4 to the Yankees in the top of the seventh inning on Aaron Judge’s 470-foot three-run homer and Austin Wells’ solo shot. But Rafaela put Boston right back in the game in the bottom half. His 398-foot two-run blast to left field made it 7-6. The Red Sox then scored three runs in the eighth inning to win 9-7 here at Fenway Park.
“He likes playing in the big moments,” Cora said. “He likes playing against them, against the Phillies. I was joking with him, ‘We have to like playing against the Rockies in Colorado, too.’ So you’ve got to be ready every day and he understands that.”
Rafaela — who bashed a go-ahead extra-inning two-run homer in a win July 5 at Yankee Stadium — is 16-for-44 (.364) with five homers, three doubles and nine RBIs in 11 career games against New York.
“I think it’s not because it’s the Yankees. I just play hard every day,” Rafaela said.
Rafaela grew up a fan of the Red Sox. He took after his mother, Recheline, a terrific softball player who rooted for the Red Sox. Manny Ramirez was Rafaela’s favorite hitter growing up. Dustin Pedroia was his favorite defender.
“A baseball player, these are the types of games you want to play in,” Rafaela said. “It’s awesome. It’s awesome to do it here at Fenway.”
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Cora also pointed out about Rafaela, “He made a great play defensively, too, with the infield in.”
The Yankees failed to score in the sixth inning despite putting runners at second and third with no outs. Rafaela fielded Anthony Volpe’s 88.7 mph ground ball to shortstop and cut down Austin Wells at the plate trying to score for the second out.
“The kid, he’s just a kid,” Cora said. “He’s 23 and he’s learning on the job. And so far, it’s been outstanding.”
Rafaela is batting .320 with an .839 OPS and 14 extra-base hits (five homers, two triples and seven doubles) in his past 40 games.
“For a rookie to play good defense in center, good defense at shortstop and come in in big moments, it’s been fun to watch,” Cora said.
Boston scored three times in the eighth on Wilyer Abreu’s game-tying double and Masataka Yoshida’s go-ahead two-run single.
“Ceddanne, big swing there put us in a good spot and it took everybody for us to pull this one off,” Cora said.
