Roman Anthony homers in 1st career game at Yankee Stadium; Red Sox take series opener in the Bronx

It’s been a long time since a Red Sox and Yankees game meant something this late in the season. Boston and New York entered Thursday night neck and neck in the American League wild-card race.

The game between the two rivals was sloppy, with both teams leaving a combined 24 men on base. Despite each side's inability to score runs, Red Sox rookie Roman Anthony belted the biggest homer of his career. The 21-year-old bashed a massive two-run homer to deep right field in the top of the inning, giving the Sox some breathing room in a 6-3 win over the Yankees on Thursday night.

His two-run blast put an exclamation point on his first career game at Yankee Stadium, finishing 2-for-5 with three RBI, two runs, and a walk. The ninth-inning homer off Yankees reliever Yerry De Los Santos left his bat at 107.4 mph.

“It’s probably what I imagined, and maybe even a little more,” Anthony said of the atmosphere at Yankee Stadium on Thursday night. “But it’s exciting. For me, I love playing in that atmosphere. I love getting booed, I love everything about it, so it’s fun.”

Anthony poked a base hit into left field in the sixth inning, scoring David Hamilton, who was on second after a balk, tying the game 3-3. 

Both Red Sox rookies, Marcelo Mayer and Anthony, have each homered in their Yankee Stadium debuts this season. 

Anthony wasn’t the only one with a big hit for the Red Sox on Thursday night. New first baseman Nathaniel Lowe drove in two runs, including a go-ahead double in the seventh.

Boston was just 3-for-19 with runners in scoring position and left a total of 14 runners on base, but Lowe, who hit a game-tying homer two days ago in his first start for the Red Sox, inserted himself in the Sox-Yanks rivalry. After Trevor Story led off the inning with a single, Lowe ripped a 102.1 mph double into the right field gap, giving the Red Sox a 4-3 lead.

The Sox almost saw the lead go away after Steven Matz gave up a leadoff triple to Ben Rice. Luckily the southpaw settled down, striking out Jazz Chisholm Jr. and then Paul Goldschmidt to end the inning. Garrett Whitlock threw just seven pitches in a perfect eighth inning, followed by Aroldis Chapman, facing his former team, setting the Yankees down in order in the ninth inning.

The game on Thursday night resembled a classic Red Sox-Yankees game prior to the installation of the pitch clock, lasting 3 hours and 25 minutes.

“It felt like back in the day,” Alex Cora said after the game. “The games are gonna take forever.”

Boston took an early 1-0 lead in the second inning, with the Yankees making three errors. New York made three errors within the first three at-bats in the inning. Masataka Yoshida reached on a fielding error from Yankees starter Luis Gil.

Ceddanne Rafaela’s force-out sent Yoshida back to the Sox’ dugout, but a throwing error by Chisholm Jr. allowed the outfielder to advance to second. Rafaela then stole third while David Hamilton worked a walk. The speedy Hamilton stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by Rice as Rafaela came home to score.

Then Hamilton was picked off third after he was caught napping, chatting with coach Kyle Hudson.

Gil went five innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on four hits with five walks and three strikeouts.

In the fourth inning, Chisholm Jr. singled into right field and then stole second base, followed by advancing to third on a throwing error by catcher Carlos Narváez. Yankees' Goldschmidt singled to center to give New York a 2-1 lead.

Boston tied the game in the fifth after Lowe hit an RBI sacrifice fly with the bases loaded. A half-inning later, Story failed to make a sliding, over-the-shoulder catch attempt on Chisholm's bloop single, allowing the Yankees to regain the lead.

Lefty reliever Justin Wilson faced four batters and retired one of them, issuing his first walk (and then a second) since July 11. He went 1/3 inning, allowing a hit and two walks, and got one strikeout.

Red Sox starter Lucas Giolito grinned throughout his outing, during which he allowed five hits and three runs while walking three batters and recording four strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings. This was the third time in six outings that Giolito failed to get through five innings. He labored in the fifth inning, throwing 97 pitches in total, and was finally lifted after Chisholm Jr.’s bloop single.

Giolito’s outing puts him at 111 1/3 innings on the season, which is important because if he hits 140 innings, his contract becomes a $19 million mutual option, which the Sox could buy out. If he pitches under 140 innings, he will have a $14 million club option or a $1.5 million buyout next season.

The Red Sox are now 6-1 against the Yankees this season. One more win clinches the season series, which means they’ll own the tiebreaker for playoff seeding purposes. Boston will have Brayan Bello (9-6, 3.23 ERA), and he will oppose Max Fried (13-5, 3.26 ERA) in the second game of the series Friday night. It’s on NESN at 7:05 p.m. ET.