BOSTON — As the Red Sox got ready to welcome the Yankees to Fenway Park for the first time this season, Alex Cora was excited for the challenge. And though New York entered the four-game series 14 games ahead in the division, the manager believed his team stood on similar ground to its rival.
“We feel like we belong in the conversation, and they’ve been great so far,” Cora said. “So, we’ll see how it goes.”
On Thursday, Rafael Devers certainly belonged. But it wasn’t enough.
Devers had another night to remember against Gerrit Cole as he hit two home runs and drove in five runs against the Yankees ace. But the third baseman was unable to drag the Red Sox to an improbable victory. Josh Winckowski was roughed up in the third inning – when he gave up two home runs – and the Red Sox couldn’t overcome it in a 6-5 loss to open the series at Fenway Park.
In his first five career starts, Winckowski had never seen a lineup even close like the Yankees. On Thursday night, he got a rude awakening to the rivalry – and New York didn’t even have Aaron Judge, who was out with lower body soreness.
Winckowski got through the first two innings clean, but he failed to establish his sinker, which was consistently high in the zone. He didn’t get away with it for long, however, and it was ultimately the killer of his disastrous third inning, when he gave up two two-out homers, first a grand slam and then a solo shot on the very next pitch.
Winckowski committed the ultimate sin, walking Yankees No. 9 hitter Joey Gallo to lead off the inning, which foreshadowed his demise. Gleyber Torres singled, and the Yankees soon had runners on second and third with one out. Winckowski got Matt Carpenter to pop out, but then he walked Giancarlo Stanton on four pitches. That set up Josh Donaldson, who cranked Winckowski’s elevated 1-1 sinker to the center-field seats for New York’s third grand slam in its last two games.
It was Winckowski’s worst nightmare. And as a large contingent of Yankees fans filled Fenway with “Let’s go Yankees!” chants, another ball was sailing into the seats. Aaron Hicks’ solo homer on Winckowski’s first-pitch slider landed beyond Jackie Bradley Jr’s reach in right to five New York a 5-0 lead.
It seemed to be a near-insurmountable deficit for the Red Sox against Cole. But Devers single-handedly gave Boston a chance.
The Red Sox responded right away thanks to Devers’ bat. With a runner on, the third baseman somehow golfed Cole’s slider that was low and inside and sent it 434 feet, about 10 rows deep past New York’s bullpen in right. It was Devers’ fifth career homer against Cole, the most of any player against the Yankees ace.
Two innings later – after the Red Sox gifted the Yankees a run when Franchy Cordero lost a two-out pop-up, which landed on the infield grass to give the visitors a 6-2 lead – Devers tried to rescue his team again.
Cordero made up for his miscue by doubling off Cole to start the inning before Kevin Plawecki walked. After Jarren Duran struck out again – his third of a career-high four punchouts on Thursday – Devers walked up to the plate and crushed Cole again. This time, the pitcher’s well-located changeup was demolished by Devers, who smoked it 425 feet to center to make it a 6-5 game.
