On the face of it, with the standings being what they are and the Red Sox being where they are, the Red Sox role this weekend is one of spoilers.
They're the ones with the losing record, taking up space in the basement of the American League East. The clubhouse is still smarting from a confounding traded deadline and there are still a handful of key players on the IL.
So when the night started, and the Sox seated 16.5 games in back of the front-running Yankees, it could be said that the Sox' only goal was to make life difficult for the Yankees. It'd be nice to steal a couple of games in the three-game series, and add to the Yanks' misery as they make the third stop on a long and unproductive road trip.
It's hard to consider the Red Sox as a threat, because they're not. The best they can do is act as tormentors.
That's not, however, how the Red Sox see things. They see the division standings, and they can do the math. They know they're the only team in the East with a losing record.
But Friday, the Sox at least showed some fight. They at least showed a willingness to play hard and see what happens.
Maybe they were buoyed by the last series between the teams last month. After the Yankees stomped them in the first two, the Sox got off the mat and took the next two, including one in which Alex Verdugo delivered both the game-tying and game-winning hits in an extra-inning victory. That loss seemed to send New York closer Clay Holmes into a spiral from which he's yet to recover.
And so, they tried it again. They hung closer to the Yankees for much of the night, despite managing just one run through the first eight innings, despite going from the fourth until the ninth without a single hit.
They did it with pitching, as Nate Eovaldi, despite a diminished fastball, managed to limit the Yankees to just two runs over the first six. From there, the bullpen took over and shut down the powerful New York lineup.
A single from J.D. Martinez in the bottom of the ninth tied it 2-2, and the following inning, after a bizarre on-his-own bunt attempt by Reese McGuire, Tommy Pham ripped a game-winning single just inside the third base bag to secure a 3-2 walkoff win.
In the last two innings, Fenway throbbed with noise and anticipation. It was easily the loudest the ballpark has been since the last Yankee visit, and perhaps, the loudest it's been since the wild card game last October.
"It was fun, it was fun,'' concluded Alex Cora. "Friday nights, again. I know we haven't played well throughout the season. We haven't been good at Fenway. But this is still a good baseball team that has just struggled for a month and a half. But when (the Yankees) come into town, we expect this. We expect games like this.''
Inside the clubhouse, the mood was again upbeat, though no one was getting carried away with two straight wins. Rather, it seemed to remind them of what was possible, if they take the right approach.
"The thing is, at least my mentality is, 'Hey, let's go 1-0 on the day,' '' said Garrett Whitlock, who was brilliant over two innings. "What we've got is what we've got. We've got people coming back, but we've got a good group, too. So it's just go 1-0 on the day and worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.''
For now, the big picture numbers aren't encouraging. But as poorly as the Red Sox played for the last weeks, they're not out of the race. They are, improbably, not dead yet.
"I've been saying that for a while,'' said Cora, warming to the topic. "Not too many people believe me. But the people who really matter, they believe it - the people in the (clubhouse). We played well against Atlanta, (but) we lost two games. We played well (Thursday) against Baltimore, we won. We played well against the Yankees, we won. There's a winning streak somewhere. This is a good baseball team that's going to get healthy and that's what people haven't seen.
"We just have to keep going out there, grinding and winning ballgames. That's two in a row against two good teams. It's a good feeling, but we've got turn the page and be ready for tomorrow.''
Saturday offers an opportunity to make life miserable for the Yankees, and maybe, along the way, extend the winning streak that Cora regards as inevitable.