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.
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, a 5-2 win over the Red Sox in front of 45,552 sun-drenched fans in The Bronx.
The Yankees (87-63) took three of four in a tense series, moved back to three games clear of the Orioles in the AL East and finished a 5-2 homestand.
Six games on the West Coast, in Seattle and Oakland, await beginning Tuesday.
They will not miss seeing Boston in the opposing dugout.
Saturday threatened to mar what had been a strong homestand, 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 — on a day Cole characterized as “rough.”
Rodon enjoyed a happier afternoon Sunday, pitching 5 ⅓ 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, which allowed the Yankees to take a lead in the second inning and never let it go.
Rodon only was touched in the fourth inning, 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.
Boston would get no closer.
Rodon was pulled with Connor Wong on third base and one out in the sixth.
Aaron Boone turned to Ian Hamilton, who left Wong stranded by striking out Trevor Story and Danny Jansen.
