Red Sox Wrap: Yankees Even Series In Drama-Filled Matchup

The Red Sox dropped a matinee matchup with the Yankees on Saturday, 14-4, allowing New York to even their three-game set at Yankee Stadium.

Boston fell to 48-40 with the loss, while New York improved to 55-36.

Check out the full box score here.

ONE BIG TAKEAWAY
The Red Sox and Yankees are incapable of avoiding drama, which might seem like an obvious statement but it has to be said after the first two games of this series.

Boston got the last laugh Friday, but couldn’t carry the momentum over into a Saturday afternoon matchup that was full of momentum swings.

Rafael Devers recorded his 1,000th career hit off Gerrit Cole, sparking a rally that gave the Red Sox an early lead. Alex Verdugo responded with a home run to tie the game, taking his time to round the bases and clearly drawing the ire of his former team. Devers answered right back, hitting a go-ahead home run off Cole (he tends to do that) and mirroring Verdugo’s antics with an over-the-top celebration of his own.

It was all downhill from there, though.

The Red Sox’s bullpen was taxed, so when ineffective outings from Brennan Bernardino and Greg Weissert led to a rare Chase Anderson appearance, it was essentially over. The Yankees scored seven runs in the bottom half of the fifth, putting the game out of reach and getting some level of revenge for a putrid previous 16 hours.

Who’s ready for a series-deciding matchup Sunday night?

STARS OF THE GAME
— Ben Rice clearly enjoys playing against his hometown team, crushing three homers into the short porch Saturday to plate half of New York’s runs.

— Devers had his typical game at Yankee Stadium, finishing 2-for-4 with a mammoth home run and two RBIs.

— DJ LeMahieu looked like his old self, if not just for one afternoon, going 2-for-3 with two RBIs.

UP NEXT
The Red Sox and Yankees will conclude their trio at Yankee Stadium on Sunday. It’ll be an ESPN exclusive starting at 7:10 p.m. ET, with Boston returning to NESN on Tuesday for the opening game of their series with the Oakland Athletics.