In his first game at Yankee Stadium in a Boston Red Sox uniform, Willson Contreras was the difference in a 5-3 win over the New York Yankees on Friday night.
Contreras hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning that turned out to be the margin of victory for Boston. With two outs in the fifth, Yankees starter Ryan Weathers left a changeup in the lower middle of the strike zone that Contreras swatted into the left-field corner.
Weathers had one of his worst starts of the season, allowing five runs and seven hits in six innings. He also served up a fourth-inning home run to Andruw Monasterio that put the Red Sox ahead 3-1.
Contreras previously played three games at Yankee Stadium before joining the Red Sox. He compiled a .100/.250/.100 slash average in 12 plate appearances. In his three games against the Yankees earlier this season, played at Fenway Park, Contreras batted 1-for-11.
Another player facing the Yankees for the first time with the Red Sox was pitcher Sonny Gray. He allowed three runs and eight hits in 6 1/3 innings, but that was enough to get the win. Friday’s start was Gray’s first against the Yankees since he gave up six runs and nine hits in five innings while pitching for the St. Louis Cardinals last August.
Gray, 36, had his struggles as a pitcher for the Yankees, finishing with a 4.51 ERA and 15-16 record in 41 appearances from 2017-18. During his career, he has a 6.07 ERA at Yankee Stadium in 22 games.
More importantly, the 14-year veteran has allowed three or fewer runs in his past seven starts. In five of those games, he’s given up one run or fewer.
Ben Rice hit his 18th homer of the season for the Yankees, while Trent Grisham also went deep for his eighth of the year. Spencer Jones hit 3-for-3 in his first game playing right field since getting recalled from Triple-A to fill in for the injured Aaron Judge.
But with the defeat and the Tampa Bay Rays’ 6-0 win over the Miami Marlins on Friday, the Yankees dropped back to 1.5 games out of first place in the AL East at 37-26. Meanwhile, the Red Sox remain in last place at 27-35, 11 games behind the Rays and 9.5 back from the Yankees.
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