BOSTON — Isiah Kiner-Falefa has not exactly had a stellar first season with the Yankees. The shortstop has made some really good plays and blundered some routine ones. His bat has been lighter than even the Yankees expected when they traded for him this spring.
But Saturday night, he had his moments. Kiner-Falefa hammered his first home run of the season and drove in all three Yankees runs as they snapped a three-game losing streak with a 3-2 win over the Red Sox at Fenway Park.
It was a ray of light in what has been a dark time for the Yankees (72-42). It was just their second win in their last 10 games. It was the first time they beat the struggling Red Sox (56-59) in their last four games at Fenway.
With Clay Holmes struggling, Boone went to side-armer Scott Effross to close it out.
He gave up back-to-back one-out singles to Reese McGuire and Tommy Pham, putting the tying run on second and the winning run on base. Rafael Devers chopped one in front of the plate and Jose Trevino got the force out at second. Effross coaxed a pop up from Xander Bogaerts to get his second save of the season, first as a Yankee.
That saved a big night for Kiner-Falefa and Frankie Montas, who had a better start than his first with the Yankees.
With one out and one on in the fifth, the struggling shortstop turned on an 86-mph cutter and pulled it over the Green Monster in left field. The 372-foot shot tied the game at 2-2.
And it was a huge burden off Kiner-Falefa’s shoulders.
He had gone 102 games, 348 at-bats without hitting a home run. Kiner-Falefa’s last home run was Oct. 1, 2021 with the Rangers against Cleveland. When he got to the dugout, he found only the coaching staff and Montas on the bench. His teammates gave him the traditional silent treatment by all hiding in the tunnel between the dugout and clubhouse.
Andrew Benintendi, who is playing in his first series back here since he was traded away to Kansas City, led off the ninth with a double off the center-field wall. He advanced to third on Jose Trevino’s single. Kiner-Falefa dropped a squeeze bunt down on the first base side of the mound, allowing Benintendi to score easily.
Montas held the Red Sox to two runs on five hits over five innings of work. He struck out four and walked two. Montas got 11 swings-and-misses, six on his splitter.
Kiner-Falefa picked a good spot for his first Yankee home run, with the Yankees struggling to score runs and having just fallen behind the Red Sox by two runs in the bottom of the fourth.
Montas was better than his last start, which was something of a disaster. He allowed a season-high six earned runs on five hits over just three innings after joining the Yankees the night before. He missed nearly a week after his mother-in-law died, delaying his Yankees debut.
“I think it was a little bit like the delivery was out of rhythm and it was like a little bit more rotational than he typically is,” Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake said of Montas’ start against the Cardinals. “So, getting him to trust his stuff and stay on his backside and work more north-south with his mix instead of get aggressively rotational with his lead leg and arm and then all of a sudden things kind of flattened out and he’s kind of missing left and right. So for him with the sinker and the splitter to really funnel things downhill over the plate. It’s gonna go a long way.”
Montas limited the damage Saturday.
Montas walked Verdugo to lead off the fourth. The Red Sox right fielder advanced on a wild pitch and got to third on Eric Hosmer’s single. Montas thought he had Christian Arroyo on a checked swing, but was overruled and walked him to load the bases. He hit Jarren Duran on the back of his foot to bring in the first Red Sox run. McGuire’s sacrifice fly brought in the second.
Lucas Luetge pitched a scoreless inning, his first appearance in 11 days. Lou Trivino pitched 2/3 of a scoreless inning and Aroldis Chapman gave the Yankees 1 1/3 scoreless, hitting a batter. Chapman picked up the win.
