NEW YORK — The opening game of a three-game series between the Red Sox and Yankees on Friday night was not a game for long.
Boston blitzed Yankees starter Jhony Brito for four runs in the first inning and three more in the second en route to an 8-3 win at Yankee Stadium. After a sleepy three days in Washington, the Sox’ offense exploded for nine hits in the first three innings to chase Brito as Boston improved to 6-1 against their rivals this season. The Red Sox improved to 64-58 with the victory behind six strong innings from starter Brayan Bello.
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The offense came instantly Friday night. Alex Verdugo led off with a double, then Rafael Devers singled before Justin Turner made it 1-0 with an RBI single on a liner to center. The next batter, Masataka Yoshida, broke things open with his first homer since July 25, a three-run shot that made it 4-0. The Red Sox scored four times off Brito before he recorded an out.
The second inning didn’t go much better for the young righty. With one out, Pablo Reyes reached on a fielding error by Gleyber Torres, then the Sox teed off on Brito with four straight singles. Devers, Turner and Yoshida all drove in runs to make it 7-0. Brito lasted just 2 ⅓ innings, allowing seven runs on six hits.
On the other side, Bello was once again dominant against the Yankees. He lasted six innings, holding New York to one run on six hits while striking out four. New York’s only damage came in the third, when Anthony Volpe led off with a double then scored on a D.J. LeMahieu RBI groundout. Bello improved to 9-7 and his ERA dropped to 3.70.
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Garrett Whitlock’s struggles with the long ball continued after a rough outing Wednesday against Washington. Aaron Judge took him deep for a two-run shot in the eighth inning that made it 7-3. Overall, Whitlock was much sharper, though, as he struck out five batters in two innings.
In the top of the ninth, Verdugo doubled for a second time, then advanced to third on a wild pitch before Devers drove him in with a single. Yoshida led the Red Sox with four RBIs while the top three hitters in the lineup (Verdugo, Devers and Turner) all had three hits.
Bello owns Yankees again
Bello beat the Yankees for the third time this year and now has a 1.45 ERA (5 earned runs in 31 innings) in five starts against them over the last two seasons. According to the Red Sox, among pitchers who have started at least five games against New York, Bello has the lowest ERA of the live ball era (1.45). Johnny Cueto is second at 1.50.
Sox pick up ground on Jays as Mariners move into pole position
The Blue Jays lost and the Mariners won Friday, meaning Seattle now controls the third and final wild card spot in the American League. The Red Sox are three games behind Seattle and 2 ½ games behind Toronto with 40 games to go.
The Mariners beat the Astros, closing the gap on the second wild card spot a bit, too. Boston is 5 ½ back in that scenario but has seven games against the Astros in the next two weeks.
Sox face tough test in Cole on Saturday
The Red Sox will face a tough test Saturday afternoon with the Yankees sending ace Gerrit Cole (10-3, 2.76 ERA) to the mound in the second game of the series. Righty Kutter Crawford (5-6, 3.80 ERA) will start for the Red Sox.
The game will start at 1:05 p.m. ET and air on both NESN and FS1.
