NEW YORK _ Joe Girardi didn't go with the every-game-is-important line beforehand. Not with the division-leading Red Sox in town.
"They definitely are bigger," he said Friday afternoon of the upcoming three games. "We need to make up ground."
They did Friday night in dramatic fashion, rallying from three runs down in the eighth inning to knock off the Red Sox, 5-4, in front of perhaps the loudest Yankee Stadium crowd of the season, a sellout of 46,509.
The wild victory was jeopardized when Aroldis Chapman walked the bases loaded to start the ninth, but he got a terrific defensive play by left fielder Aaron Hicks to help short-circuit a Boston rally.
The win brought the Yankees (61-53), who trailed 3-0 going into the eighth before erupting for five runs, within 3{ games of the Red Sox (65-50), who saw their winning streak snapped at eight games.
It was a theatrical start to a stretch of 10 meetings between the rivals in a 24-day span.
Coming into the game, the Yankees had scored two or fewer runs six times in their previous eight games, and they were headed down that familiar road of futility much of the game.
After Eduardo Rodriguez shut out the Yankees for six innings and Matt Barnes pitched a scoreless seventh, they hammered former Met Addison Reed, Boston's headline acquisition at the trade deadline.
Hicks' two-run homer to right made it 3-2 and ended the Yankees' shutout streak at 16 innings. Gary Sanchez followed with a single and went to second on a wild pitch before Aaron Judge walked. In came righty Joe Kelly to face Didi Gregorius, who entered the night with 12 hits in his last 25 at-bats but was 0-for-3 to that point Friday night. Gregorius lined an RBI single to left to tie it at 3, Todd Frazier's single made it 4-3 and Ronald Torreyes' sacrifice fly to left produced a 5-3 lead.
Chapman walked Jackie Bradley Jr., Eduardo Nunez and Mookie Betts to begin the ninth, and Andrew Benintendi then sent a sacrifice fly to left. Hicks made the catch, then fired a strike to Frazier, who tagged out a sliding Nunez for the second out. Mitch Moreland flied to center to end it.
Rodriguez came in with good career numbers against the Yankees (4-1 with a 2.66 ERA in seven starts), but not especially good numbers overall this season, 4-3 with a 4.08 ERA. That included 0-2 with a 6.84 ERA in his previous five starts, but he allowed two hits and two walks in six innings.
Jaime Garcia, making his second appearance with the Yankees, allowed three runs and seven hits in 52/3 innings. Adam Warren chipped in 21/3 scoreless innings, allowing one hit and giving his club a chance to come back.
Garcia walked Mookie Betts with one out in the first and retired Benintendi on a pop up to short. Hanley Ramirez then got ahead 3-and-1 before ripping a fastball to left-center for his 18th homer. It gave Ramirez seven homers in his last 16 games against the Yankees.
In the bottom of the first, the Yankees picked up where they left off in Toronto Thursday night when they went 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position and stranded 11 in a 4-0 loss.
Rodriguez walked Sanchez and Judge with one out, but the Yankees were unable to capitalize. Gregorius lined out to right and Frazier blooped one to center where Jackie Bradley Jr. made a sliding catch to end the 30-pitch inning.
The Yankees blew another scoring chance in the third. Hicks, who went 0 for 5 Thursday in his first game back from the DL, lined a one-out double to right-center. Sanchez flied to right and Judge made it 28 straight games with a strikeout, extending his franchise record, going down swinging at a high 94-mph fastball. That gave Judge 46 strikeouts in his last 95 at-bats and left the Yankees 0 for 4 with RISP and three stranded through three.
