BOSTON — The Yankees had a chance to bury the Red Sox in the standings this month, facing their division rival in back-to-back weeks. They had a 9 1/2-game lead on the Red Sox on June 5, the day before their series at Yankee Stadium last week.

Because the Red Sox just traded superstar slugger Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants in one of the most shocking trades in MLB history. Devers is a Yankees killer. In 119 regular season games vs. New York, Devers batted .270 with 31 homers and 78 RBI.

Faced with the prospect of helping his team sweep their archrivals Sunday at Fenway, Red Sox starter Brayan Bello threw out his usual plan of attack and was rewarded with his best start of the season.

Facing the Red Sox (37-36) on back-to-back weekends, the Yankees (42-28) dropped five of six and seemingly gave life to their rival’s season. In The Bronx, it was their pitching that failed them. At Fenway, it was their lifeless bats, plus a costly baserunning miscue in each of the past two games.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora wanted his twin 7-year-old sons to meet the Yankees' Aaron Judge, the biggest star of his team's AL East foe. “They were like ‘No, no. He’s a rival,’’’ the Boston manager recalled.

Hunter Dobbins was an eighth-round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox in 2021, and before the 2025 season, he was ranked as the 27th overall prospect in their system. Clearly, the Boston organization did not have high expectations for the righty from Texas Tech.

A baseball sportswriter is comparing a recent Red Sox-Yankees trade to the infamous deal that sent Babe Ruth to New York.

Like Dobbins, the Red Sox as a whole are trending in the right direction. Saturday’s win brought them back to .500 and back in the mix in the AL East. Once all of Boston’s pitchers are healthy, having Dobbins in the organization as a reliable extra arm wherever Cora needs him will be handy late in the season.