Nothing was settled until the final swing. The Boston Red Sox trailed by two runs entering the bottom of the 10th inning Sunday at Fenway Park, then scored three times to beat the New York Yankees 5-4 before 34,573 fans. Jarren Duran's walk-off single to right brought Masataka Yoshida home with the winning run.
The game belonged to Sonny Gray for most of the night. The right-hander held New York to 1 hit over 7.1 innings, striking out 9 without allowing a run on 97 pitches. In this game, Gray reached 2,000 career strikeouts and 2,000 career innings pitched — both milestones crossed on the same evening. He carries a 2.69 ERA and stands 9-1 on the season. He did not factor in the decision.
Boston had built its lead in the fourth, when Caleb Durbin singled to center and both Wilyer Abreu and Willson Contreras scored to make it 2-0. That margin held through eight innings. New York answered in the ninth: Caballero scored on a throwing error by right fielder Abreu, and Volpe scored on a fielder's choice by Paul Goldschmidt to tie the game at 2-2. The Yankees pushed ahead in the 10th — Schuemann scored on another throwing error by Abreu on Amed Rosario's single, and Rosario later scored on a fielder's choice by Austin Wells to make it 4-2. Boston refused to fold. Anthony Seigler singled to right and Durbin scored to cut the deficit to one. Tsung-Che Cheng's sacrifice fly brought Andruw Monasterio home to tie it at 4-4. Then Duran singled to right, and Yoshida crossed the plate to end it.
Carlos Rodon gave New York five innings, allowing 2 runs — neither earned — on 1 hit and 4 walks while striking out 6. Fernando Cruz took the loss, his third of the season, retiring just one batter while allowing 3 runs (2 earned) on 3 hits in one-third of an inning. Justin Slaten earned his first win of the season, working a full inning for Boston.
Boston has won two straight and improved to 34-46. New York has dropped two in a row and fell to 48-33. Abreu's two throwing errors in the final two innings proved costly, turning what appeared to be a comfortable late lead into a deficit the Red Sox ultimately overcame.