After a lifeless Friday night loss in which they were held to two hits, and with the dominant Max Fried on the mound Saturday, the Red Sox badly needed the kind of dominant performance Brayan Bello has turned in against the Yankees throughout his career.

Bello’s first 10 career starts against the Yankees had been historically good; he entered Saturday in possession of a 1.95 ERA against them, the best mark by any major leaguer with a minimum of 10 starts against them since the beginning of the Live Ball Era in 1921. In three starts against the Yankees since Sept. 14 of last year, Bello had yielded just one earned run. His two starts against them this season were scoreless seven-inning gems.

Five batters into Saturday’s game, the Yankees already had more success against Bello than any of their previous three meetings. Nine innings later, New York had a 5-3 victory and series win.

For the first time since July 26, 2024, the Yankees knocked Bello out after only five innings.  He began by hitting Trent Grisham. Ben Rice’s ground-rule double and a walk to Aaron Judge loaded the bases in the first, and Cody Bellinger’s sacrifice fly gave New York an instant 1-0 lead. Jazz Chisholm Jr. tacked on another run with an RBI single and Bello walked Jasson Domínguez to reload the bases before getting back-to-back strikeouts looking to momentarily escape further damage.

The heart of the New York lineup gave Bello trouble throughout, but the second and fourth, when No. 9 hitter Ryan McMahon led off, were 1-2-3 innings. Yet as Bello walked off the mound at the end of the fourth, there was already movement in the Boston bullpen. He managed to complete the fifth, but not before giving up a two-out homer to Chisholm Jr.

To counter Fried, whom Cora described pregame as “a special lefty,” he drew up a lineup card the likes of which the Red Sox have only utilized twice since the start of 2013: no lefties.

The Yankees southpaw entered Saturday having pitched at least six innings in each of his previous four games, dating back to his last start against the Sox on Aug. 22. In that span, he’d yielded 18 hits, no homers, and just five earned runs (a 1.67 ERA).

With that in mind, tallying nine hits against the Yankees southpaw was an impressive feat. Boston’s ongoing inability to capitalize on such opportunities ensured fairly uneventful outcomes, though. They went 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base.

Fried gave the Red Sox chances in the first two innings. His first pitch of the game became a Romy Gonzalez leadoff single, and Fried issued a two-out walk to Rob Refsnyder before getting an inning-ending groundout from Carlos Narváez. He threw five balls to begin the second, only for Nate Eaton to erase his own leadoff walk trying to go from first to third on Nick Sogard’s single.

The Red Sox offense was so quiet that in the bottom of the second, a large flock of birds gathered in a sunlit patch of center field grass at the edge of the warning track and remained there undisturbed for several minutes.

When Boston didn’t capitalize early, Fried settled in. Carlos Narváez’s line-drive comebacker, leading off the fourth, snapped back into Fried’s glove as easily as a rubber band.

Alex Bregman’s home run off the Pesky Pole, and Trevor Story reaching on an error by Fried briefly broke up the monotony in the fifth.

Cora hoped his lineup would knock Fried out in the fifth. It took them 5.1 innings and three straight singles before manager Aaron Boone came out to take the ball. With only one lefty in the Yankees bullpen, Cora had plans for Jarren Duran.

“They only have one lefty in the bullpen. They probably go righties,” Cora said. “Then Jarren will be part of it.”

In the bottom of the eighth, Cora put his plan into action. Nathaniel Lowe pinch-hit for Narváez, and popped out. Then, Duran came to the plate.

In 25 previous plate appearances as a pinch-hitter, the big blast had eluded him.

He watched Fernando Cruz’s slider pierce the heart of the zone. Cruz’s next pitch wasn’t so lucky. Duran sent the splitter into the visitors’ bullpen, and the Red Sox were within a run.

But for the second time this week, Red Sox closer Aroldis Chapman was unable to escape damage. After two quick outs, he gave up a single to Judge. A wild pitch advanced the Yankees captain to second, and he scored on Bellinger’s RBI double.

Any momentum from Duran’s homer was gone. David Bednar made quick work of Rafaela, Gonzalez, and Bregman in the bottom of the ninth.