The 2025 edition of the Yankee-Red Sox rivalry will have one more installment – a winner-advances, loser-goes-home Game 3 after the Yanks evened their Wild Card Series Wednesday night with a dramatic 4-3 victory.

Jazz Chisholm Jr., who had been unhappy that he did not start in Game 1, made perhaps the biggest play of Game 2, scoring all the way from first base on a single down the right-field line by Austin Wells with two outs in the eighth inning. Chisholm, running on the pitch, slid headfirst to beat the throw, sending the Yankee Stadium crowd into a frenzy.

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The Yankees scored the winning run off reliever Garrett Whitlock, whom the Red Sox took from the Yankees in the Rule 5 draft in December of 2020.

Here are the takeaways…

-Yankees closer David Bednar, who had allowed a run in Game 1, preserved the lead with a spotless ninth, striking out Wilyer Abreu and Jarren Duran and getting Ceddane Rafaela on a scary fly ball to deep right.

-Ben Rice gave the Yankees a quick 2-0 lead, slamming the first postseason pitch he ever saw for a two-run homer in the first inning. There’s a nice rivalry footnote to the homer, too, considering Rice is a Massachusetts native who nonetheless rooted for the Yankees as a kid. Cody Bellinger set the whole thing up with a two-out single to bring Rice to the plate. Rice became the first Yankee to hit a home run in his first career postseason at-bat since Shane Spencer in 1998, according to ace MLB researcher Sarah Langs.

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-Rice was not in the Game 1 lineup against Garrett Crochet, just like fellow lefties Chisholm and Ryan McMahon. But all three were back as starters against Boston righty Brayan Bello, who had a 1.44 ERA in his five previous starts at Yankee Stadium. Bello allowed two runs and four hits in 2.1 innings, getting a quick hook from Red Sox manager Alex Cora. With two on and one out in the third, Cora called for lefty Justin Wilson to face Bellinger and Rice, and Wilson wriggled free of trouble. First, he got Bellinger on a fly to left that was so short it prevented Trent Grisham from trying to score. Then he retired Rice on a hard-hit liner that was whacked at right fielder Nate Eaton. The Red Sox had six left-handed relievers listed on the scorecard given out to the media.

-The Red Sox tied the score at 2 in the third inning on a rally started by their 7-8-9 hitters. Duran led off with a single and Rafaela walked on a 3-2 pitch. No. 9 hitter Nick Sogard bunted and Carlos Rodón pounced on it, but he bounced his throw to Chisholm covering at first. The throwing error loaded the bases with none out. Rodón struck out Rob Refsnyder, but Trevor Story, who had been ill earlier in the series, smacked a two-run single into center field. The inning could’ve been worse, but Rodón got Alex Bregman to hit into a double-play to end it.

-Aaron Judge, who had two hits in Game 1, gave the Yanks a temporary 3-2 lead with an RBI single in the fifth inning, set up by Grisham’s two-out walk. Judge looped a fly into left field off reliever Justin Slaten that Duran charged and dove for, but the ball glanced off his glove as Grisham scampered around third and scored.

-The Red Sox quickly answered, however, when Story led off the sixth with a homer to left off Rodón, knotting the score at 3. It was a mistake pitch, 95 miles per hour, right down the middle. After Rodón walked Alex Bregman, Aaron Boone visited the mound as reliever Fernando Cruz started to warm up. Rodón remained in the game and it was the right call – he retired Romy Gonzalez on a pop-up and got Carlos Narváez, the ex-Yankee catcher who’s had several tough at-bats in the series, to hit into a 5-4-3 double play.

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-Boston mounted a big threat in the seventh when Rodón walked Eaton on four pitches leading off and then threw three straight balls, including a wild pitch, to Duran, before plunking him. The HBP was the last pitch Rodón threw – Boone emerged from the dugout to bring in Cruz. Rafaela tried to sacrifice, but his bunt was a disaster, a pop right to Cruz for the first out. One out later, pinch-hitter Masataka Yoshida hit a grounder toward the middle that Chisholm dove for and stopped. But he couldn’t get much on the throw, which bounced twice, and Yoshida had an infield hit. Eaton might have scored from third on the play had he kept running. Then Story smashed a deep fly to center that had the crowd gasping, but Grisham flashed back to catch it, ending the threat.

-Rodón threw six-plus innings and allowed three runs and four hits. He struck out six and walked three. Rodón, who had a terrific regular season with 18 wins and a 3.09 ERA, lowered his career postseason ERA from 6.64 to 6.15.

-Devin Williams threw a scoreless eighth for the Yanks, pitching around a leadoff single by Bregman. Williams started a 1-6-3 double play with a shaky throw to second, but Anthony Volpe leapt to snare it, landed on the bag and threw to first to complete the DP. Then Williams struck out Narváez, fooling him so badly with his “Airbender” changeup that Narváez’s bat flew out of his hands and actually hit Eaton, who was prepping to bat next.

Game MVP: Austin Wells

Let’s not overthink this – Wells got the winning hit, he’s the star of the game. He finished 2-for-3 with a walk.

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HighlightsWhat’s next

The Yankees and Red Sox play a win-or-go-home Game 3 on Thursday night. First pitch is set for 6:08 p.m. or 8 p.m., depending on the result of Game 2 of the Cincinnati – Los Angeles series.

New York will send rookie Cam Schlittler on the mound while the Red Sox are sending out rookie left-hander Connelly Early.