Hunter Dobbins outpitches Carlos Rodón as Yankees miss opportunity against Red Sox, lose series in Sunday's finale

The Yankees wasted a chance to take their first series of the 2025 season against the Boston Red Sox when they blew a sixth-inning lead and ultimately lost Sunday’s 11-7 finale.

Takeaways

1. Carlos Rodón has been nails for this year’s Gerrit Cole-less Yankees (39-25) and continued to be a rock through four scoreless frames, but the fifth and sixth innings saw Rodón unravel. After a two-out Ceddanne Rafaela walk in the fifth, Kristian Campbell‘s two-run home run turned New York’s 3-0 lead into a 3-2 edge. Aaron Boone let Rodón have the sixth, even after Rafael Devers‘ leadoff hit-by-pitch and Rob Refsnyder’s subsequent walk, and Carlos Narváez‘s three-run home run in the ensuing at-bat put the Yankees into a 5-3 deficit that they could not dig their way out of.

2. Whether or not Boone should have pulled Rodón (8-4, 2.87 ERA) — who allowed five runs on three hits while striking out five and walking three through five-plus innings — he got outpitched in a rubber game against his team’s arch rival. To rub salt in the wound, Boston rookie Hunter Dobbins got the job done on the other side of the pitching matchup. Dobbins, who said that he would rather retire than play for the Yankees, backed up his trash talk with a better outing than the veteran Rodón. Overall, Dobbins (2-1, 4.20 ERA) allowed three runs on four hits in five innings.
3. Before Rodón’s collapse, Aaron Judge‘s two-run home run in the first inning was a tone-setting blast and made some history. He put the Yankees on the board and gave Rodón an early lead to work with en route to a 3-for-5 evening that included a sixth-inning walk, seventh-inning single and ninth-inning two-run home run — his 23rd of 2025. Judge’s earlier 22nd home run of the season was also his 30th against the Red Sox and, at 107 games, makes him the second-fastest Yankee to 30 homers against Boston, behind only Babe Ruth‘s 95. Judge is also batting an MLB-best .396 while posting a .493 OBP, slugging .771 and driving in 55 runs.
4. For a moment,DJ LeMahieu‘s two-out solo shot in the fifth inning was the go-ahead home run. If not for Rodón’s sixth inning, LeMahieu’s long ball would have changed the tune of the Dobbins discourse. Looking at the bigger picture, LeMahieu has a hit in three straight games and is slashing .258/.333/.371 with two home runs and nine RBI through 20 games. He turns 37 on July 13 and is not his prime self, but LeMahieu has proven serviceable and shown signs of still being able to play a key role for the Yankees this season.

Who’s the MVP?

The Red Sox (32-35) hit five home runs, and Judge had two for the Yankees, but none was bigger than Narváez’s game-breaking blast in the fifth. The Yankees added two runs in the sixth, but not before Narváez’s three-run homer and Jarren Duran‘s subsequent two-run single during the bottom half’s five-run breakthrough. Narváez knocked Rodón out and sparked the Red Sox, who left no doubt late in the game.

Highlights

What’s next

The Yankees have Monday off and start a six-game road trip the next day, beginning with a three-game set at the Kansas City Royals (34-32). Left-handers Max Fried (8-1, 1.78 ERA) and Noah Cameron (2-1, 0.85 ERA) are set to start Tuesday’s 7:40 p.m. opener.

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