BOSTON — The Red Sox ousted the Yankees on Sunday night at Fenway Park.
The Red Sox wreaked havoc against Jose Trevino and his pitching staff, stealing nine bases, and took the series with a 9-3 victory over the Yankees in front of a sellout crowd of 36,718.
It was the first time the Yankees (50-24) have lost Game 3 after winning the first six games this season and just their fourth loss in 23 series.
The Red Sox showed their team speed all night, setting a franchise record with nine stolen bases.
It was also the second-most stolen bases the Yankees have allowed in a single game in franchise history, behind the 13 stolen bases they allowed in 1907.
The Red Sox (37-35) took advantage of Trevino, who has the weakest throw of the 60 qualified catchers with an average fastball speed of 71.3 mph.
Trevino and Marcus Stroman were the battery that stole the first six bases, and then the Red Sox stole four more off the Yankees’ relief pitchers.
Their work on the bases played a key role in helping the Red Sox take a 4-1 lead. The Yankees had cut the lead to 4-3 by the sixth inning.
But after the Yankees missed a key opportunity to tie the game or take the lead in the seventh inning, the Red Sox scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh and two more in the eighth to seal the game.
The Yankees will face the task of shaking off their losing streak on Monday off and then hosting the Orioles in a divisional playoff game in the Bronx on Tuesday.
The Yankees had a close call in the seventh inning when Anthony Rizzo collided with relief pitcher Brennan Bernardino at first base and fell, possibly hurting his right wrist or landing on it.
Rizzo eventually got up but left the game with what the Yankees described as a “lower right arm injury.” He will be examined by team doctors in New York on Monday and undergo imaging studies.
On the play, Bernardino dropped a throw from first baseman Dominic Smith, leaving the Yankees trailing 4-3 with the bases loaded and no outs.
However, the Red Sox brought in relief pitcher Zach Kelly, who got the next three batters out and got the game out of reach without scoring.
He started by throwing three consecutive pitches to Gleyber Torres, who eventually swung and missed at a ball that hit the ground for three strikes.
Trevino then struck out on three pitches before DJ LeMahieu hit a liner to center fielder Sedan Raffaella for the third out.
The night began with Aaron Judge hitting his 26th home run of the year, a soaring homer off Cutter Crawford that flew over the Green Monster’s head to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead after the first inning.
The Red Sox successfully stole first base off Jarren Duran in the bottom of the inning, and while he remained on second base, that set the tone for what happened next.
Stroman found himself in a tight spot in the bottom of the second inning when he walked Emmanuel Valdez with two outs, but then former Mets player Dominic Smith hit a fly ball to right-center field to put runners on first and second.
With Rafaela at bat, Smith ran toward second base, but Trevino had trouble controlling the ball and couldn’t even throw it.
Raffaella then singled to center field to score two runs and put the Red Sox ahead, 2–1.
Stroman’s walk to speedy David Hamilton in the top of the third inning proved to be another blow: Hamilton stole second base, advanced to third on Rob Refsnyder’s single to left field, then scored on a double play when Rafael Devers grounded out to score.
In the fifth inning, the Red Sox added another run with Stroman on base, extending their lead to 4-1.
Hamilton again singled to lead off the inning and promptly stole second base on the first pitch to Refsnyder.
Two pitches later, he stole third base and was in position to score on Rafael Devers’ sacrifice fly to center field.
Trevino led off the game with a home run over the Green Monster in the top of the sixth inning, his eighth home run of the year and his revenge.
Later, Anthony Volpe also showed some strong base running.
After singled, he caught a grounder to second base by Juan Soto and ran to third base.
That allowed them to score on a wild pitch, making it a 4-3 game.
