Rafael Devers hit another home run off Gerrit Cole, Kenley Jansen worked out of a jam in the ninth inning and the visiting Boston Red Sox hung on for a 3-2 victory over the New York Yankees Friday night in the first meeting of the season between the longtime rivals.
Triston Casas had two hits and an RBI and Enrique Hernandez homered as the Red Sox ended a six-game losing streak at Yankee Stadium and won for the sixth time in their past 18 games overall.
Josh Donaldson homered for the Yankees, who lost for the third time in four games and dropped to 1-19 when scoring two runs or fewer this season.
Devers hit his seventh homer in 33 career at-bats against Cole (7-1). The third baseman also ended a 16-game homerless drought by going deep for the first time since hitting two May 19 at San Diego.
Jansen, who entered with a 7.88 ERA over his past nine outings, got two quick outs before encountering trouble. Billy McKinney and Gleyber Torres singled to give the Yankees runners on first and second for rookie Anthony Volpe.
Volpe hit a foul ball down the left field line that missed a game-ending three-run homer by a few feet. Jansen then got the rookie on a pop-up to secure his 14th save in 17 chances.
Garrett Whitlock (3-2), a former 18th-round pick by New York in 2017, allowed two runs on seven hits in 6 1/3 innings. In his first start against his former organization after 12 relief appearances versus them, Whitlock struck out six and walked one.
Cole allowed two runs on seven hits in six innings for his first loss since his final regular-season start of last season. Cole struck out six and walked one.
Devers hit a one-out double in the fourth and scored two batters later on Casas’ single. In his next at-bat, Devers reached for a first-pitch changeup and lifted it into the visiting bullpen beyond the left-center field fence for his 14th homer and a 2-0 Boston lead in the sixth.
In the bottom of the sixth, Donaldson hit the second pitch of the inning into the netting above Monument Park in center field to make it 2-1, but Hernandez homered to left off Albert Abreu in the seventh.
The Yankees made it 3-2 when Isiah Kiner-Falefa scored on a wild pitch, which chased Whitlock. Nick Pivetta finished the seventh and Chris Martin worked a 1-2-3 eighth before Jansen escaped.
–Field Level Media
