Boston starting pitcher Garrett Whitlock throws out New York Yankees’ DJ LeMahieu at first base during the fifth inning Friday in New York. Frank Franklin II/Associated Press
NEW YORK — Garrett Whitlock got his second win since replacing Corey Kluber in the Red Sox rotation, Rafael Devers and Kiké Hernández homered, and Boston beat the New York Yankees 3-2 on Friday night in the first meeting this year of a rivalry cut to 13 games by the new balanced schedule.
Gerrit Cole (7-1) lost for the first time this season after going unbeaten in his first 13 starts.
Whitlock (3-2) allowed two runs – one earned – and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings with six strikeouts and one walk. The right-hander, who turns 27 on Sunday, was put in the rotation in late May after Kluber, a two-time Cy Young Award winner, started 2-6 with a 6.26 ERA in his first nine outings.
Whitlock was an 18th-round pick by the Yankees in the 2017 amateur draft and was taken by Boston in the December 2020 winter meeting draft of unprotected players.
Kenley Jansen gave up two-out singles to Billy McKinney and Gleyber Torres in the ninth before retiring Anthony Volpe on popout for his 14th save in 17 chances, one pitch after the slumping rookie pulled a ball just foul of the left-field pole. Volpe, who slammed his bat after the out, is in a 10-for-67 slide,
After losing eight of its previous 11, Boston (32-32) got back to .500 in an AL East in which none of the five teams has a losing record.
Boston’s Rafael Devers slides past New York Yankees catcher Jose Trevino to score during the fourth inning Friday, in New York. Frank Franklin II/Associated Press
A crowd of 46,007 filled Yankee Stadium in the ballpark’s sixth sellout this season. There had been 18-19 annual Yankees-Red Sox games under the unbalanced schedule in use from 2001-22 and New York went 13-6 against Boston last year, including 8-2 in Bronx.
“We actually like it, not playing these guys 19 times or Toronto or Tampa,” Red Sox Manager Alex Cora said before the game.
Cole gave up two runs and seven hits in six innings.
Boston went ahead on Triston Casas’ RBI single in the fourth. The Red Sox then got to break out the inflatable dumbbells they use for dugout celebrations after home runs.
Devers doubled the lead in the sixth with his seventh career home run against Cole, driving a changeup 405 feet to the opposite field and into the Boston bullpen in left-center. Devers hit his 14th homer but his first since a pair at San Diego on May 19.
Josh Donaldson cut the deficit in the bottom half with a 448-foot home run into the netting above Monument Park. Donaldson has six hits this season, five of them homers.
Hernández restored a two-run lead in the seventh with a homer off Albert Abreu.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa singled in the seventh, stole second and continued to third when Connor Wong’s throw bounced into center for an error and came home in a wild pitch.
NOTES: Boston center fielder Adam Duvall went 0 for 3 with a walk in his first game since April 9. He missed 54 games after breaking his left wrist while attempting a diving catch. … RF Alex Verdugo went 2 for 5. He was removed from Wednesday’s game in the eighth inning after not running hard on a seventh-inning grounder and didn’t play Thursday. … Cora said he isn’t interested in the coaching job at the University of Miami, where Gino DiMare quit after five seasons. Cora, who played at Miami, endorsed Hurricanes pitching coach J.D. Arteaga.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
