Yankees break open close game with six-run sixth in 9-2 win over Red Sox

A close game until New York found its opening

The Yankees did not sprint away from this one at the start. They had only a 1-0 lead after four innings, created when Luis García Jr. drove a solo home run to right-centre in the fourth. An inning later they added another run on Cody Bellinger’s single to right, which brought Austin Wells home and moved Ben Rice to second for a 2-0 advantage.

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Boston’s best answer came immediately. Willson Contreras led off the sixth by homering to right-centre, and the call stood after an umpire review, trimming the margin to 2-1. At that point the game still had the shape of a tight divisional contest: one team getting steadier traffic, the other still within a swing.

Max Fried was a major reason it stayed there for New York. The left-hander worked six innings and allowed only three hits, one run, one walk and six strikeouts on 98 pitches. Boston never put together a long stretch of offence against him. The Red Sox finished with only four hits all night, and two of them left the yard as solo home runs, which tells its own story about how hard sustained production was to find.

The sixth inning turned pressure into separation

The game changed completely in the bottom of the sixth. New York scored six times, but the inning was not built on one swing alone. George Lombard Jr. started the burst with a single to centre that scored Spencer Jones for a 3-1 lead. Wells followed with a sacrifice fly to left, bringing home Lombard Jr. while Jazz Chisholm Jr. advanced to third, and Ryan McMahon then grounded out to third to score Chisholm Jr. for a 5-1 cushion.

Those three plays mattered because they widened the margin before the biggest blow arrived. Bellinger then drove a three-run homer to right-centre, scoring Trent Grisham and Rice along with himself, and suddenly the Yankees had an 8-1 lead. What had been a one-run game a few minutes earlier was effectively gone. Bellinger finished 2-for-5 with four RBIs, while García Jr. went 3-for-5 with his own home run and an RBI.

Boston did pull one run back in the seventh when Nick Sogard homered to right, but the Yankees answered again in the bottom half. Wells lined a single to centre that scored Chisholm Jr. and sent Grisham to third, restoring the seven-run margin at 9-2. Wells ended the game with two RBIs despite only one official hit, a reminder that this lineup kept collecting useful plate appearances even when the loudest moments belonged to Bellinger and García Jr.

Our take: New York’s volume won the night

The most convincing part of the Yankees’ performance was not simply the two home runs. It was the amount of traffic they created all game. New York finished with 14 hits, three walks and four stolen bases. Even with 13 team runners left on base and 10 strikeouts, the Yankees kept building innings until Boston’s pitching finally cracked in the sixth.

That is the difficult part for the Red Sox to absorb. Sonny Gray’s line was not disastrous at 4.2 innings and two earned runs, and Boston was still within one after Contreras homered. The middle of the game, though, became a problem in a hurry. Garrett Crochet did not record an out and was charged with four earned runs, and Garrett Whitlock allowed three more earned runs in 1.1 innings. Against a lineup producing almost entirely through singles and timely power, the Red Sox could not stop one inning from becoming the whole game.

For Boston, the obvious area to clean up is extending offence beyond isolated damage. Contreras reached four times and Sogard added the other homer, but the rest of the lineup combined for two hits. For New York, there is a smaller note inside a comfortable win: a club that reaches this often can still cash in even more efficiently than it did here. On this night, though, that was a secondary point. Fried gave them control, the sixth inning gave them distance, and the rest of the game belonged to the Yankees.

Scoring moments

1. 4th Inning

   García Jr. homered to right center (387 feet).

2. 5th Inning

   Bellinger singled to right, Wells scored, Rice to second.

3. 6th Inning

   Contreras homered to right center (387 feet). Umpire review: call on the field was upheld.

4. 6th Inning

   Lombard Jr. singled to center, Jones scored.

5. 6th Inning

   Wells hit sacrifice fly to left, Lombard Jr. scored, Chisholm Jr. to third.

6. 6th Inning

   McMahon grounded out to third, Chisholm Jr. scored, Grisham to second.

7. 6th Inning

   Bellinger homered to right center (360 feet), Grisham scored and Rice scored.

8. 7th Inning

   Sogard homered to right (362 feet).

9. 7th Inning

   Wells singled to center, Chisholm Jr. scored, Grisham to third.