Red Sox Wrap: Boston Strikes Gerrit Cole Fast To Defeat Yankees

The Boston Red Sox defeated the New York Yankees, 7-1, on Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium following back-to-back gut-wrenching losses.

With the victory, the Red Sox improved to 75-74 while the Yankees fell to 86-63.

Check out the full box score here.

ONE BIG TAKEAWAY
Boston fell apart just before reaching the finish line on Friday night after New York delivered a daunting five-run rally to begin the series. However, with a clean slate in the third of four against the first-place Yankees, manager Alex Cora received a much-needed response from the team's lineup -- and it arrived fast.

Gerrit Cole took the ball for New York less than a week after naming Rafael Devers the most dangerous Latin hitter he's faced throughout his career. Devers entered the matchup a career .333 hitter (13-for-39) with eight home runs when facing Cole, establishing an ongoing reputation as a destructive force at the plate. Did Cole envision Devers continuing that trend? Perhaps considering the nightmares Devers likely left Cole with came to life once again, this time helping Boston bounce back.

Déjà vu knocked Cole off the mound quickly.

Boston rallied to score seven runs in the fourth and fifth innings, ending Cole's outing at 4 1/3 innings, charged with all seven runs off five hits and three walks. Devers carried on the tradition of dominating Cole at the plate -- after being intentionally walked with the bases empty in the fourth inning -- with a two-run single in the fifth inning to extend the villainous stretch in The Bronx.

The pitching staff registered a reverse performance from its disastrous relief showing 24 hours ago as Bailey Horn, who was promoted ahead of first pitch, Josh Winckowski, rookie Zach Penrod, another pregame call-up, and Greg Weissert held the Yankees scoreless in a combined 3 2/3 innings of relief.

Moving forward, Boston still sits behind the Seattle Mariners, Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins, down four games from the final wild-card spot in the American League. The Red Sox have 13 games remaining in their regular season.

STARS OF THE GAME
-- Masataka Yoshida continues to haunt Yankees pitching, this time by going 2-for-4 at the plate with a double and game-leading three RBIs. Yoshida homered to plate home two runs on Friday night, heading into the series finale responsible for five RBIs in two games.

-- Devers gave the Yankees plenty of reasons to intentionally walk the three-time All-Star third baseman as much as possible. However, that wasn't feasible. The 27-year-old slugger took ownership of Yankee Stadium once again, finishing 2-for-2 at the plate with a walk. Devers also secured a wild infield pop-up to secure Penrod's scoreless eighth inning to mark the left-hander's long-awaited big league debut.

-- Brayan Bello made the start for the Red Sox, pitching 5 1/3 innings while surrendering one run off four hits and two walks with two strikeouts. Boston's right-hander improved to 14-7 with the victory.

ON DECK AT NESN
The Red Sox and Yankees will wrap up the four-game set in The Bronx on Sunday afternoon. First pitch from Yankee Stadium is scheduled for 1:35 p.m. ET, and you can catch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, live on NESN.