BOSTON _ This time it was the Red Sox bullpen blowing one.
The Yankees know the feeling and certainly were happy to be on the other side of it.
Three outs from falling for the 20th time in their last 27 games, the Yankees got a game-tying homer from Matt Holliday off Boston All-Star closer Craig Kimbrel to lead off the ninth.
Seven innings later they pushed three runs across against Doug Fister, with Didi Gregorius coming up with the big hit, helping to send the Yankees to a 4-1 victory in 16 innings in front of 36,936 at Fenway Park.
About half of that crowd remained by the end of the 5 hour, 50-minute game.
It was a much-need victory for the Yankees (46-42), who suffered their 18th blown save of the season the night before, and are at the start of an 11-game trip. A double header with the Red Sox (51-40) follows Sunday before the trip continues Monday night in Minneapolis.
The Yankees' bullpen, a significant factor in the club's recent struggles, was terrific Saturday, combining to throw eight scoreless innings.
Ben Heller, the Yankees' eighth pitcher of the night, pitched the last two innings to earn his second career win. Jonathan Holder pitched three scoreless innings _ the 11th through the 13th _ to help extend the game.
Jacoby Ellsbury, who entered the game as a pinch runner in the ninth, led off the 16th with a double off the Green Monster in left. Chase Headley followed with a single and Gregorius, who made a couple of standout defensive plays after entering the game in the ninth as a pinch hitter, lined an RBI single to center to make it 2-1. Austin Romine's RBI single made it 3-1 and Gary Sanchez's sacrifice fly later in the inning made it 4-1.
It had been mostly frustration at the plate, for both teams, until the 16th. The Red Sox went 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position, falling to 2 for 40 in such situations against the Yankees this season.
Both starting pitchers were excellent, though by game's ends their respective contributions were mostly forgotten.
Chris Sale, the American League starter in the All-Star Game who brought an 11-4 mark with a 2.75 ERA into Saturday, and was even far better than those numbers as he was seldom in trouble, allowing just three hits and striking out 13. The outing gave Sale his 12th double-digit strikeout game in 19 starts.
Louis Severino, himself an All-Star who threw seven shutout innings at the Red Sox here April 26, was again terrific, allowing one run and four hits over seven innings. The 23-year-old right-hander, who retired the final 11 he faced, walked two and struck out six in falling to 5-5 but lowering his ERA to 3.40 from 3.54.
The game's most dramatic inning may have been the eighth. Sale allowed a one-out single to Brett Gardner, bringing Sanchez to the plate. Sanchez, who doubled in the third inning, struck out on a slider in the dirt. With Sale at a season-high 118 pitches, Red Sox manager John Farrell heard some of the day's loudest boos as he hooked the pitcher, who made Judge look bad in three previous at-bats, striking him out twice and inducing a routine fly out, in favor of Kimbrel.
The right-hander, who brought 23 saves and a 1.19 ERA into the game, got ahead of Judge 0-and-1 but fell behind 2-and-1. A curveball called for a strike evened the count and, with the crowd on its feet, Judge proceeded to foul off five straight pitches. Kimbrel won the 10-pitch battle, getting Judge to fly to right.
One of oddest innings in a game full of them was the 11th.
Holliday worked a leadoff walk against righty Heath Hembree and Farrell brought on Robby Scott, a left-hander, to face Ellsbury, who sent a grounder to first. Mitch Moreland threw to shortstop Xander Bogaerts, whose relay throw back to first, oddly, hit Holliday who inexplicably went sliding back into first.
The Red Sox wanted Holliday called for interference and when, after a delay of nearly 10 minutes, which included two umpire conferences with replay central in New York, they served their intention to play the remainder of the game under protest. Scott retired the next two batters to end the inning.
