The New York Yankees seemed poised to leave Fenway Park on Sunday afternoon with a series split against the Boston Red Sox.
And then they didn’t.
The Red Sox rallied for five runs on five hits in the eighth inning and, despite being held hitless for the first seven innings against New York starter Domingo German, celebrated in front of a rowdy Fenway crowd following a 5-4 win.
Boston manager Alex Cora acknowledged that it was the best comeback of the season for the Red Sox, who lead the league in comeback wins. Yankees manager Aaron Boone, however, didn’t offer the same temperament during a video conference with reporters.
“Yeah, I mean, really tough one, obviously. Domingo was terrific,” Boone said, as seen on YES Network. “Yeah, a tough one that we have to get past and heading into a off day and a huge series coming up with Tampa. But yeah, another extremely tough one.”
The Yankees have a number of brutal losses on the season where they’ve held leads late — sometimes even into the ninth — and cough up games.
“Yeah, I mean, this definitely seems like, especially over the last month or month and a half we’ve had some really tough ones that we’ve had to get past and get through and time and time again these guys have done it — continue to reveal their character,” Boone said. “And look it’s been a difficult season to this point, no question about it, but to these guys credit they continue to get off the mat time and time again and we’ll do it again.”
The Red Sox now hold a one-game lead in the American League East after the Tampa Bay Rays suffered a loss on Sunday. The Yankees fall nine games back of the division leaders, losing three of four at Fenway this weekend.
