NEW YORK — Josh Donaldson singled up the middle in the bottom of the 11th inning as the Yankees rallied for the third time Friday and then finally walked off a 6-5, 11-inning win over the Red Sox on opening day in Yankee Stadium.
In the bottom of the 10th, DJ LeMahieu was hit by a pitch and the Red Sox intentionally walked Aaron Hicks to load the bases with Marwin Gonzalez as the ghost runner on third. Gleybar Torres pinch hit for Kyle Higashioka against Ryan Brasier, bringing in the tying run on a sacrifice fly to center field. Isiah Kiner-Falefa struck out after a 10-pitch at-bat to end the inning still tied.
Kiner-Falefa was on second base as the ghost runner in the 11th when Donaldson, playing in his first game as a Yankee, hit a 90-mile per hour cutter from Red Sox reliever Kutter Crawford for the win.
It was the Yankees’ first lead of the day, having been put in an early hole by starter Gerrit Cole.
Xander Bogaerts singled off Michael King with an out in the top of the 10th inning, to bring in the ghost runner on a short looper to left field and give the Red Sox their third and final lead of the day after hammering Cole early.
Aaron Judge lined a hanging slider to the left-field corner with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. The Red Sox intentionally walked Anthony Rizzo to face Giancarlo Stanton, and the Yankees’ chances to win in the ninth were foiled by former Mets reliever Hansel Robles, who got Stanton swinging on an 87-mph slider.
Cole picked up where he left off, unfortunately for the Yankees. The ace, who was chased off the mound by the Red Sox in last October’s wild-card game, came out and got hit hard in the first game of the 2022 season. Cole did not record an out before giving up three runs in the first inning, including a two-run home run to Rafael Devers.
It immediately brought back memories of his disastrous start last October when the Red Sox chased him after completing just two innings.
Friday, he allowed those three runs on four hits. He walked one — leadoff hitter Enrique Hernandez on four pitches — and struck out three. Cole got 11 swings and misses, but not one on his fastball.
The Red Sox left a mark on Cole last season. Including the two innings he completed in the wild-card game loss, Cole allowed 15 earned runs over 24 innings pitched against the Red Sox for an ugly bruise of a 5.63 ERA.
Cole did get through four innings — and the Yankees’ bats took him off the hook — but it was not the tone the Yankees needed their $324 million man to set on Friday. The American League East is shaping up to be a heavyweight slugfest between the Blue Jays, Rays, Red Sox and Yankees. The Yankees start the season with 10 straight division games — seven against the Red Sox and Blue Jays, who they will likely be battling for a playoff spot again this year.
Rizzo hit a two-run shot and Stanton picked up his fifth career opening day home run (fourth as a Yankee) to let Cole leave with the game tied 3-3.
Clay Holmes gave up a go-ahead RBI-single to Alex Verdugo in the sixth to give the Red Sox the 4-3 lead, but LeMahieu tied it with his first homer of the season.
