The Boston Red Sox fell to 9.5 games behind the first place New York Yankees with their fourth straight loss Saturday night at Yankee Stadium. Gary Sanchez hit a go ahead two run homer in the fifth inning as New York held on for a 5-3 win.
Boston fell to 0-4 against their rival so far this season falling back to the .500 mark at 29-29. Sandy Leon got the Sox off to a good start with an RBI single scoring Xander Bogaerts in the second to make it 1-0. The Yanks came right back though in the bottom of the second with an RBI single by Gio Urshela, and then a two run single by DJ LeMahieu to give the hosts a 3-1 advantage. Boston tied it up in the fourth when Bogaerts hit a solo homerun, his 11th of the season to cut it to 3-2. Leon later singled in Brock Holt making it 3-3. In the fifth though Luke Voit hit a one out single, and then Sanchez launched his 18th homerun of the season a two run bomb to center with two outs to make the difference in the ballgame.
Boston had two on base with one out in the sixth, and then the first two men on in the ninth against New York closer Aroldis Chapman but couldn’t rally. JD Martinez killed the ninth inning rally with a double play groundout, and then with the tying run at the plate still Rafael Devers grounded out to end it.
Bogaerts and Leon had three hits a piece, and Holt had two to lead the Boston offense. Rick Porcello (4-5) allowed all five runs that were earned on nine hits in 4.2 innings to take the loss. Voit and Kendrys Morales had three hits a piece for New York who improved to 38-19. Chad Green (1-2) picked up the win in relief of Domingo German. Chapman earned his 17th save.
The Sox will try to avoid a sweep on Sunday night at 7:05 p.m. when a pair of lefties face off, with David Price going for Boston and CC Sabathia for New York.
