BOSTON (AP) — Dellin Betances was outsmarted by David Ortiz.
Ortiz looked for a first-pitch curveball from the hard-throwing reliever and hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the eighth inning to lift the Boston Red Sox to a 4-2 win over the struggling New York Yankees Friday night in the first of 19 meetings between the longtime rivals.
"I felt like I've done that a lot to lefties where I'm going for the first-pitch strike," Betances said. "I'm just trying to use that outside corner and he just had a great at-bat. There's nothing I could really do different there unless I'm not trying to throw it for a strike and bury it and hope he swings over it."
It was the latest in a string of frustrating games for the Yankees, who wasted a 2-0 lead late in the game.
On a chilly night with a game-time temperature of 47 degrees, the 40-year-old Ortiz sent the hanging curveball from Betances (0-2) into the first row of Green Monster seats.
"Yeah, I mean he threw a breaking ball that didn't do a lot," New York manager Joe Girardi said. "He threw a curveball to David that really just kind of spun in the zone."
Alex Rodriguez moved into 20th place in the all-time hits list with a solo homer for the Yankees, who lost for the 11th time in 15 games.
"If you told me 10 years ago that Big Papi and I would be hitting home runs at 40, I probably would've laughed," Rodriguez said. "But winning the game is the most important thing."
Jackie Bradley Jr. had a two-run double for Boston, which won for the fifth time in six games.
Koji Uehara (1-1) pitched a scoreless inning and Craig Kimbrel got the final three outs for his seventh save.
Yankees starters Masahiro Tanaka had pinpoint control early and held Boston scoreless into the seventh before Bradley Jr.'s two-out double tied it. The Japanese right-hander gave up two runs and six hits in 6 2/3 innings.
"He was filthy," Ortiz said of Tanaka.
Boston starter Henry Owens gave up two runs on six hits in six innings.
Facing a left-handed starter for the ninth time in 11 games, the Yankees made it 1-0 in the second when Rodriguez hit a fastball off a light stanchion above the Green Monster in deep left center. It was his 3,082nd hit, breaking a tie with Cap Anson.
The 40-year-old Rodriguez returned to the lineup in the team's previous game and homered after missing two with tightness in his left oblique.
New York increased it to 2-0 on Brett Gardner's two-out, RBI single in the fifth.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Yankees: Girardi said OF Aaron Hicks, who missed the last five games with left shoulder bursitis, was available to play, but he didn't insert the right-handed hitter into the lineup against a left-handed starter "for strategic reasons."
Red Sox: RHP Joe Kelly, on the 15-day DL with a right shoulder impingement, threw a 35-pitch bullpen session. Manager John Farrell said the plan was for him to have another bullpen Tuesday and then likely a rehab start.
ANNIVERSARY
Thirty-years ago Friday, Red Sox right-hander Rogers Clemens set a major league record with 20 strikeouts in a 3-1 win over Seattle in Fenway Park. It was the first of two strikeout games in his career. He also did it while still with Boston against the Tigers in Detroit on September 18, 1996.
ANNOUNCEMENT
Yankees suspended reliever Aroldis Chapman posted on Instagram that he's officially a United States citizen.
His 30-day suspension under MLB's domestic violence policy ends May 9.
OFFENSIVE WOES
The Yankees have been held to three or fewer runs in each of their last six games.
"I really believe that we're going to bust out of this," Girardi said. "We haven't yet, and I know I keep saying that, but I really believe that in my heart that these guys are going to hit. We're going to score a lot of runs."
UP NEXT
Yankees: RHP Michael Pineda (1-2, 6.95 ERA) looks to bounce back Saturday from a rough outing in his previous start when he gave up a career-high four homers to Tampa Bay.
Red Sox: RHP Rick Porcello (4-0, 3.51) is set to start. He pitched 6 1/3 shutout innings against Atlanta on Monday.
