NEW YORK (AP) — 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 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 and won its fifth straight game and 15th in 20.
Romy Gonzalez started the comeback when he homered 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 into the right-field seats for his third homer, his first since April 20.
“That’s one of the biggest highlights of my career with the Red Sox,” Yoshida said through a translator.
Holmes threw six straight sinkers, admitting his selection could have been better:
“The sinker down into Yoshida, he probably saw one too many there,” he said.
Holmes blew a save for the fifth time in 24 chances.
“If he threw a slider there, then it could have been a different story,” Yoshida said.
With an automatic runner David Hamilton 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 landed in Monument Park beyond center field.
“I always was a Red Sox fan and these type of games (are) the games I always dream about, having those at-bats,” said Rafaela, who was playing at Yankee Stadium for the first time. “Those are the type of games I really wanted to be in.”
Justin Slaten (5-2) pitched a perfect ninth and Kenley Jansen finished for his 17th save in 18 chances, the 437th of his career, tying Francisco Rodríguez for fifth. Juan Soto singled to put two on, but Aaron Judge and Alex Verdugo popped out and Oswaldo Cabrera grounded out.
New York has lost four straight games and dropped to 1-6 in extra innings. The Yankees were a major league-best 49-21 through June 12 and are a big league-worst 5-15 since.
“It’s a difficult time and we’ve got to dig down and quick turnaround tomorrow, get ready to play and find out what we’re made of a little bit,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “You’re going to be tested all the time with tough spots in the season. which clearly we are right now.”
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, and Yankees manager Boone did not think they injury was significant.
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.
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 Raffaela at 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.
“I just got to hustle all the way,” said Volpe, who thought the ball was foul. “Just got to be better.”
New York got its runs in the fourth on run-scoring grounders 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.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
