The Red Sox kept opening the door to the Yankees, but the Yankees refused to walk through it.
Clearly they were just waiting for the drama to reach a climax.
Clay Holmes took the mound with some complaints but recorded the final two outs in the top of the 10th before Juan Soto hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the inning and the Yankees beat the Red Sox 2-1 on Thursday night in the Bronx.
Soto, batting first up against Red Sox relief pitcher Josh Winckowski, smashed a liner to center field, evaded a diving shortstop Trevor Story and advanced pinch-runner Jon Berti from second base to home plate, giving the Yankees their second consecutive extra-innings walk-off win.
With the Orioles rested, the Yankees (85-62) extended their lead at the top of the American League East to two games with 15 games remaining.
The Red Sox (74-73), trying to keep their playoff hopes alive, have fallen to 4¹/₂ games out of the final American League wild-card spot.
The Yankees went 0-for-5 through the first nine innings and left nine runners on base, eight of them by Anthony Volpe. Soto's game-winning hit was the Yankees' first hit of the night with runners in scoring position.
The Yankees got strong pitching from Ian Hamilton and Tim Hill in place of Nestor Cortes, who combined for three perfect innings to help close the gap to the ninth inning.
Tommy Kahnle then allowed a double and a walk in the top of the ninth, and Red Sox closer Kenley Jansen easily got through the bottom of the inning, sending the game into extra innings.
Kahnle then got the first out in the top of the 10th before Holmes quickly retired Sedan Rafaela and Jalen Duran to give Soto a chance to win the game.
The left-hander, making his first start since returning to the rotation since appearing in relief against the Cubs last Saturday, pitched five innings that Cortes himself admitted were “shaken,” allowing one run and striking out nine batters while recording 19 strikeouts.
The only damage was a home run to Danny Jansen in the fifth inning. Cortes allowed just three hits but also walked three batters, which led to an increased pitch count.
It remains to be seen whether Cortes has performed well enough to remain in the rotation.
The Yankees used a six-man rotation in the first innings but plan to trim it down to five by next week, with the remaining player expected to go to the bullpen.
Cortes pitched 4 1/3 innings as a relief pitcher at Wrigley Field, not allowing a hit, but he mostly picked up where he left off Thursday as a starter.
Gleyber Torres gave the Yankees a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning with a home run the other way off leadoff hitter Cooper Criswell.
It was Torres' 13th home run of the season, continuing his strong run as a leadoff hitter.
Cortes managed to get through the first three innings fairly smoothly, but things started to get tough in the fourth inning when he walked Tyler O'Neill and Connor Wong with one out.
But Jazz Chisholm Jr. caught a hard pitch from Story, ran to third base and threw to first base to turn in a double play, helping Cortez get through unscathed.
The Yankees then had a chance in the bottom of the inning with the bases loaded and two out, but Volpe got out of the danger by flying out.
But Jansen caught a home run off a slider up the middle from Cortes in the top of the fifth, tying the game at 1-1.
Rafael Devers struck out in all three at-bats against Cortez, but still found a way to impact the game defensively.
In the bottom of the fifth, with a runner on first and one out, Devers made a diving catch of a ball struck out by Aaron Judge and threw it to second base from his knees to start an inning-ending double play.
The Yankees were hurt again in the sixth inning, when Austin Wells was on second base, Chisholm on first and Jasson Dominguez at home plate, with Wells leading by a large margin and looking like he was about to burst into a pitch.
However, Chisholm was running toward second base but stopped midway and was called out by Jansen at first base.
Still, the Yankees eventually got Volpe out on a fly to left field off reliever Zach Kelly, again loading the bases with two outs.
