NEW YORK (AP) — Punchless during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, the Boston Red Sox have come back ready to fight.
“That’s what we preach,” Kiké Hernández said. “Battling from the first pitch until the last.”
Hernández snapped an 0-for-27 skid with a tiebreaking double in the eighth inning and the Red Sox completed their major league-best 20th come-from-behind victory, beating the New York Yankees 7-3 Saturday night.
Hernández got his first RBI since May 20 by roping a two-out, two-strike fastball from Chad Green (0-4) to the wall in left, scoring Rafael Devers from first.
“Nobody wants to go on a skid like I did,” Hernández said. “I don’t know how many at-bats it was, but it felt like it was a lot more. Felt really good to finally get on the board.”
Christian Vázquez scored Hernández a batter later with a grounder that skipped over the first-base bag, and Bobby Dalbec followed with a two-run homer estimated at 453 feet.
Boston had 10 comeback wins while finishing last in the AL East during last year’s coronavirus-shortened 60-game season. They’ve doubled that total through 58 games this year, helping them tie for the second-best record in the American League.
The Yankees dropped behind Toronto into fourth in the AL East. They are 3-9 in their past 12 games, averaging just 2.4 runs, and fell to 14-21 against division foes.
“That’s not good,” manager Aaron Boone said. “If we’re gonna be the club we expect to be, we need to improve that and turn that around.”
Former Yankees minor leaguer Garrett Whitlock (1-1) faced New York for the first time after Boston selected him in last year’s winter meeting draft. He allowed an inherited runner to score in the sixth but wasn’t charged with a run over 1 2/3 innings. He was…
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