BOSTON — The New York Yankees turned a season-long struggle against Boston into a statement win Saturday, beating the Red Sox 5-3 at Fenway Park to strengthen their hold on the American League’s top wild card spot.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. had three hits and three RBIs, including his 29th home run, putting him one shy of the 30-30 club. Max Fried battled traffic but earned his league-best 17th victory.
Chisholm powers early Yankees surge
Facing Brayan Bello, who had thrown 14 scoreless innings against them this year, the Yankees struck first.
Trent Grisham was hit by a pitch to open the game. Ben Rice followed with a ground-rule double, and Aaron Judge walked to load the bases. Cody Bellinger brought home the first run with a sacrifice fly to center.
Chisholm beat Bello’s throw with an infield single down the third-base line for a 2-0 lead.
“We’ve been playing to everybody else’s level instead of our own level,” Chisholm said. “We’ve been letting games go. We’ve been losing games ourselves, making errors, having poor at-bats and stuff like that.”
In the third inning, Judge walked and Bellinger singled before Chisholm delivered again. His grounder through the left side made it 3-0.
Missed opportunities define middle innings
The Yankees failed to cash in several chances.
They left the bases loaded in the first when Jose Caballero and Austin Wells struck out. Wells finished 0-for-4 with four strikeouts, including one with two runners in scoring position in the third.
The only breakthrough came in the fifth. Chisholm drove a 29th homer into the right-center seats for a 4-0 cushion.
“I feel like any team that thinks they’re better than us, they should know when we step on the field that we’re coming with relentlessness,” Chisholm said. “We’re coming to step on necks. We’re not here to play around.”
Red Sox mount late pressure
Boston fought back before 36,315 fans.
Alex Bregman spoiled Fried’s shutout with a two-out solo homer off the Pesky Pole in the fifth.
The Red Sox rallied again in the sixth after Fried left the game. Three straight singles cut the lead to 4-2 on Connor Wong’s RBI hit. That brought the tying runs aboard with one out.
Manager Aaron Boone turned to Luke Weaver. Weaver fell behind 3-1 to Ceddanne Rafaela, then struck him out on a changeup in the dirt. He ended the inning by freezing Romy Gonzalez with a 96-mph fastball.
“That’s a playoff atmosphere right there,” Weaver said. “That’s a huge matchup, huge game, a lot on the line.”
Bullpen delivers when needed
The bullpen kept New York ahead.
Devin Williams handled the seventh. Fernando Cruz came on for the eighth but gave up a solo home run to pinch-hitter Jarren Duran, who homered for the second straight night to make it 4-3.
Cruz quickly recovered, striking out the next two batters to escape the inning.
Late insurance seals victory
The Yankees tacked on a key run in the ninth against former teammate Aroldis Chapman.
Aaron Judge singled, moved to second on a wild pitch, and scored when Bellinger battled back from an 0-2 count. After a nine-pitch at-bat, he drilled an RBI double off the Green Monster.
“He did what he did the whole entire year, which is put together a good at-bat and hit a ball off the Monster in a big spot for us,” Fried said.
David Bednar finished it off. He needed just seven pitches in the ninth for his 24th save, his seventh since joining the Yankees.
Playoff implications grow clearer
The Yankees pulled 2½ games ahead of Boston for the top wild card spot. It was also their first series win over the Red Sox this season after starting 2-8 head-to-head.
New York improved to 83-65 and has won 21 of its last 30. The Yankees need nine more wins to clinch a playoff berth. They remain three games behind Toronto for the AL East lead with 14 games left.
If the season ended today, the Yankees would host Boston in a best-of-three wild card series at Yankee Stadium.
“At the end of the day, we finally looked ourselves in the mirror and realized we’re the team to beat,” Chisholm said. “That’s how we’ve been stepping on the field for the last two weeks.”
The series wraps up Sunday night with Will Warren starting against Boston ace Garrett Crochet.
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