Three months after opening series, Red Sox and surprising Yankees finally meet again

BOSTON — When the Yankees and Red Sox met for the season-opening series in the Bronx from April 8-10, they were looked at as relative equals.

But not equals who would be fighting it out atop the AL East, as they have many times during the last 100-plus years. No, many preseason prognosticators (full disclosure: this reporter was one of them) believed it was a series between two clubs expected to battle for third behind the Rays and Blue Jays, the latter the division favorite.

The situation was quite different three months later when the clubs finally hooked up again Thursday night at Fenway Park for the start of a four-game series.

Thursday marked the first time the Yankees played at Fenway since a 6-2 loss in last October’s American League wild-card game, with ace Gerrit Cole getting pulled in the third inning.

The Yankees, who took two of three from the Red Sox in that April series, entered Thursday with an MLB-best 59-23 record. They had a 14-game lead over the Red Sox and Rays and a 14 1/2-game lead over the Blue Jays.

The Red Sox staggered out of the gate at 11-20 but entered Thursday 45-37 (though they had lost nine of their last 14).

That the Red Sox got back over .500 and moved into playoff contention did not come as a surprise to the Yankees.

“They’re a really good offensive team,” Aaron Boone said. “They do a lot of really good things offensively. It’s not surprising they’re playing well and they’re putting themself right back in the middle of the race. I think they’re just they’re reverting back to their baseball card as a team, who they are.”

That remains to be seen.

 The Red Sox have plenty of issues. First and foremost, their pitching staff  has taken as many hits as any team.  Chris Sale, Nathan Eovaldi, James Paxton, Garrett Whitlock and Rich Hill — coincidentally, the latter four are all former Yankees — are all on the injured list.

Still, the Red Sox, not surprisingly, came into the series with confidence.

“It’s always good to play the [Yankees],” outfielder Alex Verdugo said Wednesday. “It’s a rivalry. So I think it will be good. They’re a really good team this year. They’re playing well, and I mean, I think we’re playing well as well. So it’s just going to be one of those things where paper can say whatever it wants, but you’ve got to go out there and compete and play. We’ll find a way to do what we can to win.”

Even with the big division deficit, the Red Sox see themselves as deserving to have a seat at the table when it comes to AL contenders.

“They’re having a great season,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said after his team’s loss to the Rays on Wednesday. “They’re doing an outstanding job. We’ll see what happens. We feel like we belong in the conversation.”

Cole, who started Friday, said late Wednesday night in Pittsburgh that he expects nothing less from the Yankees’ chief rival.

“They seem to be playing a lot better than they did initially from the start and we seem to keep on doing our thing,” he said. “Obviously, they have a lot of talent over there and a lot of savvy, so regardless of what their record is, they’re always going to be a dangerous club.”

 As for the 14-game cushion, to the Yankees, it’s exactly that — a cushion, but not a guarantee of anything.

“It gives us some flexibility, but still in our minds, 14 games is four games,” Aaron Judge said after Thursday’s 16-0 victory over the Pirates at PNC Park. “Having a little bit of cushion with 14 is nice, but our mindset has been the same. We need to win.”

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.