NEW YORK — Instant reactions as the Red Sox (69-59) overcome another horrific showing with runners in scoring position to beat the Yankees, 6-3, behind Nathaniel Lowe and Roman Anthony in the opener of a key four-game series at Yankee Stadium:
1) The Red Sox were brutal with runners in scoring position Tuesday night… and then (momentarily) bailed out by Lowe. On Thursday, history repeated itself — and then Anthony entered the equation.
Boston was just 3-for-19 in such situations and left 14 men on base but Lowe, 48 hours after a game-tying homer in his first Red Sox start, delivered the difference-making swing in his first taste of the rivalry. After a Trevor Story leadoff single in the seventh, Lowe ripped a 102.1 mph double into the right field gap to give the Red Sox a 4-3 lead for good.
Anthony then gave Boston a cushion with a no-doubt, upper-deck homer off Yerry De Los Santos that made it 6-3 in the ninth. It was Anthony’s fifth of the year and left the bat at 107.4 mph.
2) Anthony experienced high highs and low lows in his first-ever game in the Bronx. The rookie was promoted the day after the Red Sox took two of three from the Yankees in New York in June and made his Yankee Stadium debut Thursday.
In the sixth, Anthony provided some big situational hitting that the Red Sox have been lacking. After David Hamilton advanced to second on the balk, Anthony punched a Doval cutter through the left side to score his teammate and tie the game, 3-3. Three innings later came the big swing off De Los Santos.
Anthony (3 RBIs) and Lowe (2 RBIs) were the only Red Sox batters to drive runs in.
3) The lead given by Lowe (and padded by Anthony) was protected by an impressive showing from Steven Matz, Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman in the final innings.
With a one-run lead, Matz allowed a one-out triple to Mass. native Ben Rice, who is slowly but surely becoming a Red Sox killer, but then battled back to strike out Jazz Chisholm Jr. and then get lefty-masher Paul Goldschmidt to end the inning. Whitlock then needed just seven pitches in a perfect eighth.
Chapman, facing his former team, had a bigger cushion than his bullpen mats. He got three outs in order.
4) The Red Sox and Yankees are both good teams with good records but it was a brutally sloppy game across the board. The Yankees handed Boston the first run of the game with three errors in the second inning, including a wild overthrow by catcher Ben Rice on a steal attempt. Hamilton was caught sleeping and picked off third base in the same inning. A throwing error by Carlos Narváez in the fourth inning allowed the Yankees to take the lead. New York reliever Camilo Doval even committed a balk by disengaging the rubber three times with Hamilton on first base in the sixth.
It was not a masterpiece, to say the least. There were five total errors and the teams combined to leave 24 men on base. The time of game was a throwback: It lasted three hours and 25 minutes.
5) Lucas Giolito failed to get through five innings for the third time in six outings. He labored into the fifth, throwing 97 pitches before being lifted with two outs and a left-handed hitter coming to the plate. Giolito was charged with three runs on five hits. He walked three and struck out four while allowing a homer to Rice.
The Red Sox are officially on innings movie when it comes to Giolito, whose status for 2026 depends on if he hits 140 frames or not. His abbreviated outing Thursday brought him to 111 ⅓ on the season. He threw 97 pitches (60 strikes).
6) After three bases-loaded squanders in Tuesday’s brutal loss, the Sox once again had a couple prime scoring opportunities that fell short.
In the fifth, a walk and two singles loaded the bases with no outs but Lowe’s one-out sacrifice fly plated the only run of the inning. Progress, sure.
In the seventh, after Lowe’s double, Boston failed to score in another bases-loaded spot. Weaver struck out Carlos Narváez before turning the ball over to lefty Tim Hill, who got Roman Anthony swinging. The Yankees also squandered their fair share of chances, stranding 10.
7) Giolito’s immediate replacement, Justin Wilson, had his second straight shaky outing. Wilson hadn’t issued a walk since July 11 but issued two of them with two outs in the fifth and allowed an RBI bloop single to Chisholm that put the Yankees ahead, 3-2. Wilson was a ball away from walking in another run before battling back to strike out Ryan McMahon and end the inning. The 38-year-old Wilson has been excellent all year but might be tiring with a few weeks left.
8) The Red Sox are today 6-1 against the Yankees this season. One more win clinches the season series and the all-important tiebreaker for playoff seeding purposes.
9) It’ll be Yankee killer Brayan Bello (9-6, 3.23 ERA) against scuffling New York lefty Max Fried (13-5, 3.26 ERA) in the second game of the series Friday night. It’s on NESN at 7:05 p.m. ET.
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