By Tiffany Williams –
The Yankees are getting hot at the right time, and they did it again Saturday night under the Fenway lights. Behind a steady start from Max Fried and a relentless middle of the order, New York pushed past the Red Sox 5-3 to take the series and keep climbing in the AL playoff picture.
The Red Sox, meanwhile, are fading fast. They’ve now dropped three straight, six of their last eight, and the once-formidable Fenway advantage has evaporated — Boston has lost eight of its last 11 at home after dominating in late July and early August.
Alex Bregman briefly sparked the crowd with a solo homer in the fifth, his first in over a month, but the Red Sox couldn’t string anything together. They’ve gone ice cold with runners in scoring position, hitting just .096 in their last three games. Even Jarren Duran’s pinch-hit blast in the eighth — his first career shot off the bench — wasn’t enough to flip the momentum. Brayan Bello, who had previously owned the Yankees, gave up four runs in five innings and was fighting traffic all night.
The Yankees, in contrast, look like a team finding its stride. Fried wasn’t dominant, surrendering nine hits in just over five innings, but he did enough to collect his MLB-leading 17th win. The lefty has turned his season around with a 1.95 ERA in his last five starts, stabilizing a rotation that has been nails down the stretch.
Offensively, Jazz Chisholm Jr. set the tone, driving in runs in the first and third before blasting a solo homer in the fifth. He finished with three RBI and has feasted on Boston pitching all season. Cody Bellinger added insurance with a late RBI double, part of a torrid stretch that’s seen him hit .330 since mid-August.
The numbers tell the rest of the story: the Yankees have won 14 of their last 19 and an MLB-best 23 of 34 since early August. They’re also mashing home runs at a historic clip — 251 so far, already one of the top six totals in MLB history through 148 games. On the road, they’ve been even more ruthless, winners of 13 of their last 15 and now riding five straight series wins away from the Bronx.
The Red Sox, once charging, suddenly look like a team on fumes. Their record in the bright yellow alternates, once a quirky good-luck charm, took another hit. Nate Eaton and Connor Wong chipped in at the plate, but without timely hits, it felt like Boston was chasing shadows.
With less than three weeks left, the Yankees are trending up, and the Red Sox are searching for answers. At Fenway on Saturday, it looked like two clubs headed in opposite directions — one powering into October, the other sliding out of the fight.