Cody Bellinger homer sparks late Yankees eruption in win over Red Sox

A pitchers’ duel between Cam Schlittler and Ranger Suárez on Sunday afternoon eventually gave way to a battle of the bullpens.And while that meant another good day of Yankees pitching, they were at risk of wasting it because an Aaron Judge-less lineup lacked much punch for most of the game.Turns out it was saving its best for last.Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Greg Joyce about the inside buzz on the Yankees.

Cody Bellinger delivered a go-ahead blast in the bottom of the eighth inning before the Yankees piled on from there, leading to a 6-1 win over the Red Sox at a sold-out Yankee Stadium.After Red Sox reliever Justin Slaten struck out the first two batters of the frame, Bellinger, arguably the Yankees’ most valuable all-around player so far this season, clobbered his ninth home run to break a 1-1 tie.That marked the first of five straight batters to reach base, including an RBI single from Trent Grisham and a three-run homer from Jazz Chisholm Jr.against lefty Joe La Sorsa to give David Bednar some more breathing room in the ninth.Fernando Cruz, Brent Headrick, Tim Hill and Bednar combined for 3 ⅓ scoreless innings in relief of Schlittler as the Yankees (38-26) split the two-game series with the Red Sox (27-36).Facing his hometown team that he dominated in the AL wild-card series clincher last October, Schlittler was not quite as sharp but still plenty good as he held the Red Sox to one run across 5 ⅔ innings.The only problem for the Yankees was that Suárez was even better, holding them to one run across 6 1/3 innings before his bullpen let him down.Suárez retired the first nine Yankees in order before Paul Goldschmidt led off the fourth inning with a bloop single.

One out later, Bellinger added another bloop single and one out after that, Grisham lined a single to center, though Goldschmidt was held at third.That loaded the bases for Anthony Volpe, who drew a 3-0 count before flying out on...