FINAL: Red Sox 8, New York Yankees 4 - Red Sox Jump on Rodon Early, Get Insurance Markers in Ninth For Win

The Red Sox (36-35) take down the New York Yankees 8-4 (50-23) in a commanding win over the best team in baseball.

Boston jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first and never looked back. Six of their twelve hits were doubles, and three of those came with runs scoring. Ceddanne Rafaela had a great night at the dish, going 3-4 with a double and a run scored. Jarren Duran and Tyler O'Neill both had a double, a single, and an RBI each. Rafael Devers had two RBI, while Connor Wong, Jamie Westbrook, and Enmanuel Valdez had an RBI as well.

Cooper Criswell got the start tonight, and he was able to fend off the Bronx Bombers for four innings. He allowed just two runs on three hits, and struck out six Yankees. He could've kept going, but New York had worked some good counts during Criswell's start, running him up to 88 pitches by the time he was pulled.

My Player of the Game: The Bullpen - The Red Sox relievers did an outstanding job at putting one of the best offensive teams to bed tonight. Justin Slaten picked up the win with two and two thirds innings pitched, giving up a run on two hits and striking out three. Brenan Bernardino came in for the last out in the top of the seventh, and Greg Weissert would get the first two outs of the eighth, while also allowing a run. Kenley Jansen would come in and get the four out save to close out the win for the Red Sox.

Tomorrow's rubber match will begin at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN. Probable starters are Marcus Stroman (6-2, 2.82 ERA) and Kutter Crawford (2-6, 3.47 ERA).
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    ____________________________

WHO: New York Yankees (50-22) at Red Sox (35-35)
WHEN: 7:15 p.m.
WHERE: Fenway Park
SERIES TO DATE: 0-1
STARTING PITCHERS: LHP Carlos Rodon (9-2, 2.93 ERA) vs. RHP Cooper Criswell (3-3, 4.13 ERA)
TV/RADIO: FOX, WEEI-FM 93.7

LIVE BOX

LINEUPS

RED SOX

Jarren Duran CF
Rob Refsnyder RF
Tyler O'Neill LF
Rafael Devers 3B
Connor Wong C
Masataka Yoshida DH
Jamie Westbrook 2B
Bobby Dalbec 1B
Ceddanne Rafaela SS

SP Cooper Criswell

OPPONENT

Anthony Volpe SS
Juan Soto LF
Aaron Judge CF
Alex Verdugo RF
Giancarlo Stanton DH
Anthony Rizzo 1B
Gleyber Torres 2B
Austin Well C
DJ LeMahieu 3B

SP Carlos Rodon

WHAT'S UP

The Red Sox lost last night's series opener against the Yankees, 8-1. The Sox lost their 11th of 12 series openers at home and their 7th consecutive. Enmanuel Valdez (1-for-2, BB) hit an RBI double in the 4th inning.

Within a span of 22 games from 5/23-6/16, Boston will play 2 of the top 3 teams in the American League (3 at BAL, 3 vs. NYY), and 3 of the top 4 teams in the National League (3 vs. MIL, 2 vs. ATL, 3 vs. PHI). After this homestand, the Sox are scheduled to play 12 of their next 15 games against teams that currently own a sub-.500 record (at TOR, at CIN, vs. TOR, vs. SD, at MIA). BOS is 11-23 against teams who currently own a record of .500 or better, while going 24-12 against sub-.500 clubs.

During June, the Sox lead the AL in AVG (.278), OBP (.356), and SB (12), while ranking 2nd in OPS (.809) and 4th in SLG (.453), and runs scored (64).

The Red Sox are tied for the MLB lead in triples (20, also DET)...They rank T-4th in XBH (218), 5th in SLG (.410), and 6th in doubles (124). Boston ranks 2nd in the AL in OBP (.319) and 4th in AVG (.249), SLG (.410), and OPS (.729). The Sox have scored more than 5 runs in 5 of their last 9 games and 7 of their last 13, since 5/31, after doing so in just 5 of their previous 26 games from 5/2-30.

Boston has an MLB-best 7 players with an OPS above .800 (min. 75 PA). They are Rafael Devers (.933), Rob Refsnyder (.871), Triston Casas (.857), Tyler O'Neill (.844), Connor Wong (.840), Wilyer Abreu (.829), and Jarren Duran (.809). 25 teams have 3 or fewer such players...7 teams have 0.

Connor Wong leads MLB catchers in AVG (.330; min. 100 PA)...He ranks 3rd among that group in OBP (.391, 2nd in AL) and 6th in OPS (.840, 3rd in AL).

David Hamilton leads qualified AL rookies in AVG (.281) and SB (14), while ranking 2nd in OBP (.331), SLG (.444) and OPS (.775).

Romy Gonzalez played in his 2nd rehab game with Triple-A Worcester last night at Buffalo...He started at first base and went 1-for-4. Gonzalez played in his 1st rehab game on Thursday, starting as the DH and going 1-for-2 with an RBI walk.