In a game that showcased the unpredictability of intradivisional baseball, the Boston Red Sox defeated the New York Yankees 5-3 on Friday night at Yankee Stadium. Willson Contreras, playing his first game in the Bronx as a Red Sock , hit a decisive two-run homer in the fifth inning. Sonny Gray,a former Yankee, allowed three runs over 6⅓ innings to earn the win, according to the source.

Contreras' first Yankee Stadium homer in a Boston uniform

Willson Contreras entered Friday night with a .100/.250/.100 slash line in 12 previous plate appearances at Yankee Stadium, according to the source. He had also batted just 1-for-11 against the Yankees earlier this season while playing at Fenway Park. But with two outs in the fifth inning, Contreras connected on a changeup from Yankees starter Ryan Weathers, sending it into the left-field corner to break a 3-3 tie. The homer proved to be the winning margin for Boston.

Gray's 6⅓ innings of 3-run ball: A step forward for the 36-year-old veteran

Sonny Gray, 36, entered with a known history of struggles against his former team : he had a 4.51 ERA in 41 appearances with the Yankees from 2017–18, and a 6 .07 ERA in 22 career games at Yankee Stadium. But Friday's start continued a recent hot streak—Gray has allowed three or fewer runs in each of his past seven starts, and five of those yielded one run or fewer, as the source reported. While he gave up eight hits and three runs, includding home runs to Ben Rice (his 18th) and Trent Grisham (his eighth), Gray kept the Yankees from mounting a rally after the fifth inning.

Yankees drop to 1.5 games out after home loss

The loss nudged the Yankees to 37-26, now 1.5 games behind the AL East leader, according to the source. Ben Rice and Trent Grisham both homered, and Spencer Jones went 3-for-3 in his first game playing right field after being recalled from Triple-A to fill in for the Miami Marlins on Friday—an odd twist in the report. Meanwhile, the Red Sox remain in last place at 27-35, 11 games behind the Rays and 9.5 back from the Yankees, underscoring the depth of their division gap.

What explains Contreras' turnaround from a .100 hitter at the Stadium?

The source does not offer any insight into Contreras' preparation or mindseet, leaving open the question of whether this performance signals a permanent adjustment or a one-off bright spot. Contreras had been 1-for-11 against the Yankees at Fenway earlier this seaosn, a pattern that made his sudden power display all the more surprising. with the Red Sox stuck in last place, individual moments like this may be the only fuel for a team that needs much more than one win to climb back into conention.