After a collapse both in communication and on the mound sunk a game Saturday, the Yankees steadied themselves Sunday.
Carlos Rodon pitched to Rafael Devers (and the rest of the Red Sox) effectively.
Aaron Judge asserted himself as the slugger in the series worth pitching around.
And the rest of the club’s offense did enough on another strong day from the bullpen.
The Yankees rebounded from one of their strangest days of the season with one of their better-played games of the season, resulting in a 5-2 win over the Red Sox in front of 45,552 sun-drenched fans in The Bronx.
“We’ve had our share, I feel like, of some gut-punch losses and tough losses,” manager Aaron Boone said after the Yankees (87-63) took three of four in a tense series. “These guys have done a great job of really bouncing back in a lot of cases.”
They will not miss seeing Boston in the opposing dugout.
Saturday threatened to mar what was a strong, 5-2 homestand, with Gerrit Cole spiraling after deciding to intentionally walk Devers — a decision that did not have his manager’s backing, though Cole said pitching coach Matt Blake supported it.
Cole characterized the day as “rough.”
Rodon enjoyed a happier afternoon Sunday, pitching 5 ¹/₃ strong innings in which he allowed two runs on six hits and two walks.
He and the five relievers who would follow limited Boston hitters to 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position, enabling the Yankees to take a lead in the second inning and never let it go.
Rodon only was touched in the fourth, when Devers singled and Tyler O’Neill ended a nine-pitch battle with a missile to left to cut the Yankees edge to 4-2.
That was as close as Boston would come as Rodon and the bullpen continually pitched their way out of trouble.
“[Rodon] was able to make a lot of big pitches,” Boone said of the lefty, whose solid, bounce-back campaign has included a 3.26 ERA over his past 11 starts.
Rodon was pulled with Connor Wong on third base and one out in the sixth.
Boone turned to Ian Hamilton to begin a run of impressive relief work.
Hamilton struck out Trevor Story and Danny Jansen to navigate out of the jam on an afternoon the Yankees pen tossed 3 ²/₃ scoreless innings, lowering its ERA to 1.16 over the past 10 games.
Tim Hill inherited a runner on first base in the seventh and induced a double play.
Clay Holmes escaped the eighth and — after Jake Cousins put two on in the ninth — Tommy Kahnle came in to get a game-ending double play from Jarren Duran.
“It was thrilling,” Kahnle said after his first save of the year, with Luke Weaver unavailable because of workload. “Just trying to pick up a teammate.”
With a faster lineup — Jasson Dominguez playing instead of Alex Verdugo and Oswaldo Cabrera over Anthony Rizzo on a day the club stole three bases — the Yankees first showed off their speed, then their power.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. attempted to steal second in the second inning and watched Giancarlo Stanton hammer a double down the third-base line, allowing Chisholm to score all the way from first.
Stanton, who added a hard-hit sacrifice fly in the seventh, has had three productive games in a row after a quiet week.
The Yankees padded their edge in the third inning, when Gleyber Torres visited the short porch for a solo shot before Judge destroyed his 53rd homer of the season and second in three days.
With Juan Soto on second, Judge demolished a Kutter Crawford fastball off the batter’s eye in center field, an estimated 445 feet away.
That 16-game homer drought appears to be history.
With a couple weeks still to play, Judge already has set a career high with 132 RBIs.
“It’s been an amazing season, and you’re not going to keep him off the board long,” Boone said before the Yankees head West for six games in Seattle and Oakland.
The Yankees now can look ahead.
With bad blood brewing from Saturday, everyone appeared on their best behavior Sunday.
Devers, whom Cole would not pitch to, finished 1-for-3 with a walk.
The Yankees will not want to look behind.
“We can do something special,” Torres said.
