NEW YORK — It’ll be one more for all the marbles.

The New York Yankees forced a decisive Game 3 in the American League Wild Card series, beating the Red Sox 4-3 in Game 2 on an eighth-inning single by Austin Wells.

Trying to push for a two-inning hold, Garrett Whitlock made it through five outs before he ran out of gas. With two outs in the eighth the Red Sox set-up man walked Jazz Chisholm Jr., who came around to score from first on Wells’ ensuing liner down the right field line.

Whitlock ultimately threw 47 pitches, which was the most he’s thrown in a game this season and the first time he’s even topped 30 since June. He came out with the bases loaded, and while rookie Payton Tolle was able to escape the jam without further damage, the Red Sox couldn’t tie the game up in the top of the ninth.

Now, it’ll be win or go home.

One of the more divisive decisions Yankees manager Aaron Boone made in Game 1 on Tuesday was not playing Ben Rice. With a lefty on the mound the Cohasset native did not start and was not used as a pinch hitter despite hitting 26 home runs over the course of the season.

With a right-hander on the mound Rice not only was back in the lineup, but batting clean-up.

That move quickly paid off.

In his first at bat of the postseason Rice took Bello deep for a two-run home run, giving the Yankees a quick 2-0 lead. The homer wasn’t quite a Yankee Stadium short-porch special, but at 364 feet it would have been a home run at only 13 of 30 MLB parks. Fenway Park would not have been among them.

Unlike on Tuesday, when it took until the late innings before the Red Sox offense could mount a response, the bats came alive much more quickly in Game 2.

After Yankees starter Carlos Rodon sent down the first six batters he faced, the Red Sox had their first three men reach safely to start the top of the third. Nick Sogard was the third of those, laying down a perfect bunt and forcing a bad throw from Rodon, and with the bases loaded Story came through with a two-run single to tie the game.

Then, in the bottom of the third, the Red Sox faced a pivotal moment.

Bello clearly did not have his best stuff. The Red Sox right-hander has been shaky for most of the past month and on Wednesday it was evident he was grinding once again. He drew a double play to keep things steady in the second, but in the third he gave up a single, a fielder’s choice and another single by Aaron Judge to put two men on with one out again.

In the regular season Cora may have given Bello a chance to keep pushing, but prior to the game the manager explained how in the postseason things are different.

“I don’t have to manage the week, I can be as aggressive as I want to or as patient as I want to, you just try to win that game,” Cora said pregame. “Although it’s a series, there’s no tomorrow, you just try to do everything possible to win that day and if it doesn’t happen you get ready for the next one.”

So after recording only seven outs, Bello got the hook.

Bello’s 2.1 innings was tied for the shortest start of his career, but the move paid off. Left-hander Justin Wilson was summoned and he drew a flyout and a lineout to strand both Yankee batters, keeping it a 2-2 game.

The Yankees retook the lead in the fifth, capitalizing on some sloppy baseball by the Red Sox. With two outs righty Justin Slaten walked Trent Grisham to bring up Judge, and then allowed him to advance to second on a wild pitch.

Judge then hit a sinking liner to left field, which Jarren Duran dropped while making a diving attempt, allowing Grisham to score.

Once again, the Red Sox had an immediate response.

Leading off the sixth Story lined an 0-2 fastball 381 feet to the left field stands for a solo shot, tying the game at 3-3.

To that point Story had driven in all of Boston’s runs.

The Red Sox bullpen continued to pull its weight. Steven Matz followed Slaten with a scoreless frame split across the fifth and sixth innings, and with two on and two out Zack Kelly came on to face Volpe. He fell behind in the count 3-0 but fought back to strike the Yankees shortstop out, ending the threat.

Rodon came back out for the seventh but completely lost his command. The Yankees starter threw eight straight balls to open the frame, walking Nate Eaton and hitting Jarren Duran with what would have been ball four anyway.

He was pulled after six-plus innings, but Yankees right-hander Fernando Cruz kept the Red Sox from pulling ahead. Masataka Yoshida delivered a pinch hit infield single to load the bases with two outs, but Cruz drew a deep flyout from Story that died at the warning track and missed being a grand slam by about 15 feet.

That, plus Boston’s other missed opportunities throughout the game, proved costly.

After throwing a scoreless seventh, Whitlock came back out for the eighth and recorded two quick outs on Rice and Giancarlo Stanton. But things unraveled once he walked Chisholm, and Wells’ two-out single proved the difference.

Now, the two storied rivals will face off one more time in the fourth-ever winner-take-all meeting between the rivals.