Three-run ninth not enough vs. Red Sox

BOSTON -- There was no noticeable carryover from the hubbub of one day prior, a spirited affair during which members of the Red Sox and Yankees exchanged punches across the infield turf. Rick Porcello's sparkling effort Thursday seemed to take some of that fight out of the visitors early on.
Held hitless until Aaron Judge extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a seventh-inning double, the Yankees' ninth-inning rally materialized too late to change the final outcome, concluding a wild first rivalry series of the season with a 6-3 loss to the Red Sox at Fenway Park.
"To come in here and get this one after last night and after getting beat up in game one would have been nice, but we'll turn the page," manager Aaron Boone said. "We have to turn the page, and these guys will."

Porcello permitted two hits over seven frames, striking out six without a walk as Boston opened a season 10-2 for the first time since 1952. The right-hander retired the first 11 batters on 49 pitches before drilling Giancarlo Stanton's elbow guard for a hit-by-pitch. Porcello then set down the next four hitters, leading into a 45-minute rain delay prior to the sixth inning.
"He was attacking us," Sanchez said through an interpreter. "He was getting ahead early and I think that made the difference. He had a great night tonight."
New York starter Sonny Gray watched most of that action from the clubhouse. Gray turned in a clunker, charged with six runs and seven hits over three-plus innings. Boston assembled a four-run second inning against the right-hander, with Sandy León, Mookie Betts and Mitch Moreland driving home runs.

Gray did not have much help from his defense. Second baseman Tyler Wade made a wild throw home in the second inning that allowed a run to score, and Sanchez seemed to have difficulty syncing thoughts with his pitcher. Gray shook off signs repeatedly, tying a career high by uncorking three wild pitches in his 68-pitch outing.

"Sometimes throughout the course of a game and throughout the course of certain innings, you kind of have an idea," Gray said. "Depending on what happened earlier in the inning, where runners are and whatnot, it can change. I just didn't execute very well. It made it hard all the way around."
Jackie Bradley Jr. added a third-inning ground-rule double that eluded Stanton in left field, and Betts knocked home another run with a fielder's choice. That wrapped the scoring on Gray, who has lost three of four career starts at Fenway Park and is 0-3 against the Red Sox since joining the Yankees last July.

"Sonny has a lot of ideas about how he wants to attack certain things," Boone said. "It could have been [Gray and Sanchez] just struggling to get on that same page together. It's something that's got to happen, and we feel like will happen."
Domingo Germán pitched three scoreless innings of one-hit ball in relief for the Yankees, who dropped a game below .500 at 6-7.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
The Yankees avoided being shut out in the ninth inning, loading the bases via two walks and a double error charged to third baseman Rafael Devers. Sanchez cleared the bags, scorching a rocket double to center field that came off his bat at 114.2 mph. That prompted Red Sox manager Alex Cora to call upon closer Craig Kimbrel, who retired the next three hitters to log his fourth save.
"You know how baseball is," Sanchez said. "Until they make three outs in the ninth, we're still in the game. Once we scored those three runs, I thought we had a chance to at least tie the game."
SOUND SMART
Sanchez's 32 RBIs against the Red Sox are his most against any club, and pace the Majors against Boston since the beginning of 2016. He is a .291 (21-for-71) hitter with 18 RBIs over 16 games at Fenway Park, his most RBIs at any ballpark other than Yankee Stadium.
HE SAID IT
"I had it as three or four rows in the seats. I was about ready to jump over the fence. It just kicked back on me. … It doesn't matter what was the factor. What matters is, it gave them more runs and docked Sonny's ERA. It doesn't help the squad, either way." -- Stanton, on Bradley's ground-rule double
UP NEXT
Sanchez and the Yankees return to Comerica Park for the first time since their benches-clearing incident last August, opening a four-game series against the Tigers on Friday at 7:10 p.m. ET. Coming off an effort in which he allowed a career-high 10 hits to the Orioles, left-hander Jordan Montgomery is scheduled to face right-hander Mike Fiers.