Red Sox pound Yankees with 5 home runs to win series in New York

New York Times

5 hours ago

NEW YORK — After a walk-off win last Wednesday, the Boston Red Sox had a big, three-game trip looming to face the New York Yankees in the Bronx.
'They're all big (wins),' manager Alex Cora said last week. 'But it starts in New York. We've just got to go over there and win the series.'
The way the Red Sox have played this season, one step forward and two steps back on repeat, Cora's words seemed like another pie-in-the-sky optimistic proclamation, something a manager says because he has to.
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But Sunday night, his words became reality as the Red Sox took two of three from New York, trouncing the Yankees 11-7 in the finale on the strength of five home runs and a solid performance from their rookie starter.
It marked just the fifth time in a regular-season road game against the Yankees that Boston homered five or more times, but their first since 2010.
'Overall, a good weekend,' Cora said. 'Some kids played in this environment for the first time, and they played loose. They did a good job. And now we just got to be ready for tomorrow.'
Even in their loss Friday, when Walker Buehler was pounded for seven runs (five earned) in two innings of work, the Red Sox offense made a game of it before losing 9-6. Saturday, Garrett Crochet wasn't his best but still kept New York in check as Boston's lineup showed up again, posting 10 runs in a win. Sunday, the Red Sox were determined not to waste the weekend.
Yankees starter Carlos Rodon held the Red Sox to one hit through the first four innings before Ceddanne Rafaela drew a two-out walk in the fifth and Kristian Campbell turned the tide with a two-run shot to tie the score at 2.
Hey KC, thanks for the new ballgame! pic.twitter.com/yxp1FMQxhZ
— Red Sox (@RedSox) June 9, 2025
The next inning, Boston's bats exploded for five runs. Rodon hit Rafael Devers, then walked Rob Refsnyder before Carlos Narváez made him pay with a three-run shot to left to push the Red Sox ahead 5-3 and force Rodon's early exit. With a 2.49 ERA to start the night, the five runs Rodon allowed tied a season high. He had given up four runs only once in his previous nine starts.
The Red Sox kept at it and loaded the bases before Jarren Duran hit a two-run single to make it 7-3.
Jarren makes it a 5-run inning! pic.twitter.com/tnDL6jjYFX
— Red Sox (@RedSox) June 9, 2025
In the eighth, Abraham Toro and Trevor Story hit back-to-back solo homers to pad Boston's lead, and in the ninth, Devers clubbed a solo shot to give the team some necessary insurance against a dangerous Yankees lineup.
The thing you should know about Raffy is he's so good at baseball. pic.twitter.com/waQdbRDD0c
— Red Sox (@RedSox) June 9, 2025
'The Campbell (homer) was huge. The Narváez one, that was huge,' Cora said. 'Here, no lead is safe. Raffy, Toro, we take them all, but those two swings were huge for us today.'
Campbell, who's been struggling at the plate, had a 2-for-3 night, adding to a two-hit night from Saturday. His tying homer in the fifth marked his first home run since April 29.
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But Narváez's go-ahead shot had even more significance. The catcher whom the Red Sox acquired from the Yankees in a trade this winter returned to Yankee Stadium for the first time this weekend. The 26-year-old rookie, who appeared in six games for New York last season, has emerged as a force behind the plate for the Red Sox while also taking on an important role in an injury-depleted lineup. He was anxious to perform well in his return to New York.
GO AHEAD, NARVI. pic.twitter.com/V6qAZ5z2Pw
— Red Sox (@RedSox) June 9, 2025
'I was in my head a little bit to bunt there, to be honest,' Narváez said of that point in a tie game with two runners on. 'I talked to (third-base coach Kyle Hudson) and was like, 'OK, I'm just going to be aggressive,' and then that happened. Just happy I found some barrel, and then we came back and won the game.'
With Alex Bregman on the injury list, Cora has started to hit Narváez in the cleanup spot to take advantage of how well Narváez is hitting.
'The at-bat is good; it's really good,' Cora said. 'It just happens, right now, he's hitting in the middle of the lineup. In a perfect world — we don't live in one — he should be hitting seventh for us and making this a deeper lineup. But I think we're hitting our stride. The production from Romy and Toro has been amazing.
'Like I said before the game, these are the 26 guys that we have (on the roster), and we're going to maximize the roster and use it to our advantage. And it was a good weekend.'
Meanwhile, on the mound, Hunter Dobbins held New York in check over five innings, allowing three runs. It marked the first time in over a week that the Red Sox received back-to-back starts of five innings or more, after Crochet's six innings Saturday.
'He was good,' Cora said. 'Gave us enough. We've seen a trend with him in the fifth, sixth inning — the stuff ticks down — so give us five. We move on to the bullpen, and we got 27 outs.'
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Dobbins allowed a two-run homer to Aaron Judge in the first inning, then a solo shot to DJ LeMahieu in the fifth to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead, but the Red Sox added five runs in the sixth.
New York pulled within 7-5 on a sacrifice fly off Brennan Bernardino and a bases-loaded walk from Garrett Whitlock, but Whitlock got a groundout to end the threat in the sixth. Toro and Story padded the lead in the eighth.
The Red Sox have not made it easy on themselves this season and still sit at 32-35 in early June. But if they can continue to pile up more wins like they did this weekend, they'll be headed in the right direction. After three games against the Tampa Bay Rays at home this week, the Red Sox have a rematch at Fenway Park next weekend against the Yankees.
Cora has seen his team's momentum wiped out all too often and didn't want to get ahead of himself with the series win this weekend.
'Let's see how we react tomorrow,' he said. 'It'll be very important for us tomorrow to go to Fenway and play good baseball against a good team. (The Rays are) playing good baseball, so we have to be ready.'
(Photo of Carlos Narváez's three-run homer in the sixth: John Jones / Imagn Images)