FINAL: New York Yankees 14, Red Sox 4 - Rafael Devers Strikes Again Against Cole, Yankees Get Seven Spot in Fifth

The Red Sox (48-40) get their five game win streak snapped by the New York Yankees (55-36) with a final tally of 14-4, in a game where Yankees rookie Ben Rice hit three home runs, accounting for half of New York's run total.

The Sox offense was looking good early, after a three run third inning with RBI singles from Rafael Devers, Masataka Yoshida, and Reese McGuire, all with two outs. The fourth Red Sox run came by way of a Rafael Devers blast to right center off of none other than Gerrit Cole. That home run was Devers' 1001st career hit, his 1000th coming in the top of the third on his RBI single. It was his eighth career home run off of Cole, the most of any player in MLB, with the next closest being three players tied with four total. After the fifth inning, the Sox offense stalled out, as they got only one hit for the rest of the contest, a single by Dominic Smith in the top of the ninth.

The pitching was nothing short of a disaster today for Boston, as four pitchers gave up a total of 14 runs in eight innings pitched. Josh Winckowski got the start, and he gave up three runs on five hits, and he struck out four and walked two. He also gave up two home runs, one to Ben Rice to lead off the game for New York, and one to Alex Verdugo in the bottom of the third. Brennan Bernardino pitched two thirds of an inning, and would ultimately get the loss after allowing two runs on two hits. Greg Weissert would come in next and only get one Yankee out, and he would also be credited with a blown save. He gave up four runs on two hits and two walks, one being with the bases loaded to walk home a run. Chase Anderson finished the game out, conceding five runs on five hits, with two of those being the second and third Ben Rice home runs of the day.

My Player of the Game: Rafael Devers - Raffy did what he does best against Gerrit Cole, hitting moonshots. He went 2-4 on the day, 2-3 against Cole, with an RBI single and a solo home run. He also stole a base, bringing his total to two on the season.

Tomorrow's rubber match will begin at 7:00 p.m. on ESPN. Probable starters for that one are Kutter Crawford (4-7, 3.47 ERA) and Luis Gil (9-4, 3.41 ERA).
                                                                                                                                                                                                                       ___________________________________

WHO: Red Sox (48-39) at New York Yankees (54-36)
WHEN: 1:05 p.m.
WHERE: Yankee Stadium
SERIES TO DATE: 3-1
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Josh Winckowski (2-1, 2.80 ERA) vs. RHP Gerrit Cole (1-1, 6.23 ERA)
TV/RADIO: NESN, FS1, WEEI-FM 93.7

LIVE BOX

LINEUPS

RED SOX

Jarren Duran LF
David Hamilton SS
Wilyer Abreu RF
Rafael Devers 3B
Enmanuel Valdez 2B
Masataka Yoshida DH
Reese McGuire C
Dominic Smith 1B
Ceddanne Rafaela CF

SP Josh Winckowski

OPPONENT

Ben Rice 1B
Juan Soto DH
Aaron Judge RF
Alex Verdugo LF
Anthony Volpe SS
Trent Grisham CF
Jose Trevino C
Oswaldo Cabrera 2B
DJ LeMahieu 3B

SP Gerrit Cole

WHAT'S UP

The Red Sox defeated the Yankees in yesterday's series opener, 5-3, in 10 innings. Boston improved to 5-4 in extra-inning games...The club is 4-1 in extras on the road, winning each of its last 4. Masataka Yoshida (1-for-4, R, HR, 2 RBI) tied the game with a 2-out, 2-strike, 2-run HR in the top of the 9th inning. Ceddanne Rafaela (1-for-4, R, HR, 2 RBI) hit a go ahead 2-run HR in the top of the 10th inning. It was the 1st time in at least the last 115 years that the Red Sox won a road game against the Yankees in which they trailed by multiple runs with 2 outs in the 9th inning.

The Red Sox own MLB's longest active winning streak (5 games)...They're 15-5 in their last 20 games. BOS is an MLB best 26-15 (.634) in its last 41 games, beginning 5/19. The Red Sox are a season-high 9 games above .500... The last time they were 9 games over .500 was when they were 56-47 through 7/28/23. At 48-39 (.552), the Sox own MLB's 8th-best record.

Yesterday was Alex Cora's 488th win as Red Sox manager, 1 shy of tying Bill Carrigan (489) for 4th most in franchise history. Cora is 3 shy of his 900th game...He's managed the 5thmost games in Red Sox history (4th: Bill Carrigan-1,003).

The Red Sox have won 10 of their last 11 road games...Their 28-16 (.636) record on the road is 2nd-best in MLB behind BAL (27-15, .643). In road games, they rank 2nd in the AL in AVG (.257), OBP (.326), and rank 3rd in SLG (.429) and OPS (.754). Boston has a .171 higher win percentage on the road (.636) than at home (.465)...That's the largest difference in MLB among teams who have a better road record.

Rafael Devers will face a pitcher that he loves to see in Gerrit Cole. He is batting .306 with 7 HR against Cole, with an OPS of 1.292. He is 1 hit shy of 1,000 in his career...He would become the 33rd player to record 1,000 hits for the Red Sox, but only the 6th to do so before turning 28 years old, joining Xander Bogaerts and HOF'ers Bobby Doerr, Jim Rice, Tris Speaker and Carl Yastrzemski. He's also 3 HR shy of tying Jason Varitek (193) for 11th most in franchise history. Devers ranks among AL leaders in SLG (4th, .560), OPS (5th, .932), and OBP (8th, .372)...He leads MLB 3rd basemen in SLG, OPS, and wRC+ (148).

Kenley Jansen is 17-for-18 in save opportunities this year...He's recorded 8 saves in the Sox' last 21 G, after recording just 4 in the team's previous 44 G from 4/21-6/11. His 437 career saves are tied with Francisco Rodríguez for 5th most in MLB history. He's 3 SO shy of tying Billy Wagner (1,196) for 6th-most SO as a reliever in MLB history.