Red Sox stun Yankees on 2-run homers by Yoshida in 9th, Rafaela in 10th
NEW YORK — Masataka Yoshida hit a tying, two-run homer off Clay Holmes with two outs in the ninth inning, Ceddane Rafaela homered against Tommy Kahnle leading off the 10th and the Boston Red Sox stunned New York 5-3 on Friday night and sent the Yankees to their 14th loss in 18 games.
Boston overcame a 3-0 deficit, starting the comeback when Romy Gonzalez hit his first home run of the season leading off the fifth.
Holmes, without a save since June 9, allowed pinch-hitter Dominic Smith's two-out single in the ninth. Yoshida fell behind 0-2, then drove a full-count pitch — Holmes' sixth straight sinker — into the right-field seats for his third homer.
With an automatic runner on second, Rafaela homered on a 1-0 fastball over the heart of the plate from Kahnle (0-1), the rookie's 10th home run this season.
Justin Slaten (5-2) pitched a perfect ninth and Kenley Jansen finished for his 17th save in 18 chances, the 437th of his career as Boston won for the 15th time in 20 games. Juan Soto singled to put two on, but Aaron Judge and Alex Verdugo popped out and Oswaldo Cabrera grounded out.
Anthony Volpe and DJ LeMahieu made a double mental error that cost the Yankees a run in the third inning, both failing to run hard and allowing the Red Sox to turn an inning-ending double play.
Red Sox second baseman Enmanuel Valdez caused a pair of unearned runs in the fourth with Boston's major league-high 67th error.
Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres left in the fourth after aggravating his right groin while beating out an infield hit that sparked the fourth-inning rally. The groin also forced him from a June 20 game against Baltimore.
In an outing divided by a 38-minute rain delay in the middle of the third, Yankees starter Nestor Cortes allowed one run, three hits and one walk in six innings while striking out eight. He is 4-3 with a 1.81 ERA at home but 0-4 with a 5.63 ERA on the road.
Red Sox starter Tanner Houck allowed three runs -- one earned -- two hits and four walks in 3 1/3 innings.
New York manager Aaron Boone had an expression of dismay after watching his team's baserunning in the third.
With Volpe at third and LeMahieu at first and one out, Ben Rice hit a sharp grounder to Gonzalez at first. Gonzalez stepped on the bag and threw to second. But Volpe slowed down heading home and LeMahieu ran toward second instead of getting into a rundown and was tagged before Volpe crossed the plate.
New York got its runs in the fourth on run-scoring groundouts by Wells and Trent Grisham around Volpe's bases-loaded walk.
Large crowds lined up outside Yankee Stadium four hours before first pitch on a George Costanza bobblehead giveaway night, a promotion centered on the team's traveling secretary played by Jason Alexander on "Seinfeld" from 1989-98.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Red Sox: RHP Chris Martin (right elbow inflammation) was put on the 15-day IL retroactive to Thursday and LHP Cam Booser was recalled from Triple-A Worcester.
UP NEXT
Yankees RHP Gerrit Cole (1-1, 6.23) makes his fourth start on Saturday since returning from right elbow inflammation. RHP Josh Winckowski (2-1, 2.80) starts for Boston.