NEW YORK -- Sitting in the visitors’ dugout Friday a couple of hours before his Red Sox took the field at Yankee Stadium for the first time this season, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow was asked how tough it is to proceed heading into the Aug. 3 Trade Deadline with so many American League teams (including Boston) off to subpar starts.
“I think we need to run our own race,” said Breslow. “We need to make sure that we get our house in order. We need to play better. We need to win more games, and at that point we can figure out where we are relative to the league.
“But I think the first thing is to continue to build on the progress that we've seen offensively over the last month and then make sure that we're pitching consistently well. And we need to win games for any of this to matter.”
Win they did. Under the bright lights in the Bronx, Breslow’s Sox rode a towering two-run homer by Willson Contreras and a solid-enough pitching performance by Sonny Gray to edge out the Yankees, 5-3.
While many things haven’t worked out so well for the Red Sox (27-35) to start 2026, the two trades Breslow made with the Cardinals in the offseason (one for Contreras, the other for Gray) have been clear positives.
The homer by Contreras in the top of the fifth was his team-leading 13th of the season. Though it was down the line, the right-handed hitter enjoyed a brief pose while admiring his first career homer at Yankee Stadium land in the second deck in left. The baseball scorched off his bat at an exit velocity of 112.8 mph per Statcast, traveling a projected distance of 419 feet.
Meanwhile, Gray, without his best stuff, guiled his way (6 1/3 innings, 8 hits, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K’s) to a victory that raised his record to 7-1.
The 36-year-old generated just eight swings and misses and threw an economical 79 pitches (56 strikes). He admitted his stuff was less than he usually brings to the hill.
“Not even close,” said Gray. “I definitely wasn't able to execute my strikeout stuff. I felt like my spin was at the bottom of the zone or, like, one ball under. I wasn't able to put it in the sweet spot. They swung early. They swung often. And that's a trend that teams are doing against me. So we'll sit down and try to come up with a game plan moving forward.”
For Gray, who had two seasons he would like to forget as a Yankee and was candid last offseason about his distaste for the New York experience, pitching on the other side of the rivalry for the first time was something to relish.
“I’m glad we won. There was definitely some juice,” said Gray. “Maybe that's why my stuff was staying up a little bit, so I’ll learn from it and be able to control my emotions and my energy and be able to just make pitches. I felt really good, and it was fun. I've been back here and pitched, but first time with the Red Sox.”
There was an anxious moment for the Red Sox not long after Gray departed in the seventh. With lefty Danny Coulombe on in relief and a runner at first, the dangerous Ben Rice (who belted his 18th homer earlier in the game) hit a foul popup that should have been the final out of the inning. But Contreras and second baseman Andruw Monasterio bumped into each other, and it dropped. Contreras was charged with the error. Monasterio admitted it was an error in communication.
“Nobody called it,” said Monasterio. “That’s all. I didn’t call it, he didn’t call it. Next time, I’m going to call it. I promise.”
With Rice representing the tying run, Coulombe struck him out swinging on a cutter.
Despite the miscue on the pop fly, it was a thrilling night for Monasterio, who mashed a solo shot to left in the top of the fourth for his 10th career homer and first at Yankee Stadium. He also made a nice reaction play to snare a liner by Anthony Volpe and quickly hop to the bag for an unassisted double play to get Gray out of the bottom of that fourth frame.
“Awesome, amazing,” said Monasterio. “So I think it's like a dream come true when you are a kid, being part of the biggest rivalry in baseball. I think it’s something special for me.”
And for the Red Sox, who have 100 games left to straighten out their wobbly start to the season, winning the opener of a rivalry series was important, particularly after being swept by the Yankees in Boston in April.