BOSTON — What a difference a week made for Addison Reed.
The former Met, who gave up four runs to the Yankees on Aug. 12 in The Bronx — when the Yankees won their lone game of that series — came in Friday night and got a pair of huge outs in the seventh inning of the Red Sox’s 9-6 comeback win at Fenway Park.
The Yankees already had scored four runs in the seventh and were leading 6-3 when Reed entered with the bases loaded and one out. He struck out Aaron Judge swinging and Gary Sanchez — who had homered to lead off the frame — lined out to end the threat.
Instead of the middle of the Yankees’ order extending the advantage and perhaps putting the game away, Reed stopped the bleeding.
“Unfortunately, we sent a lot of guys to the mound, [had] a lot of balls in play,” Boston manager John Farrell said. “Some hit batters [and three] walks in there. But when Addison Reed came on to shut it down — and then a big eighth inning on his part — we end up right back in a big situation to close things out.”
Reed pitched 1 ²/₃ scoreless innings — and the most critical of the five outs he recorded was the first, when he got Judge swinging on a 3-2 fastball off the outside corner.
“I just wanted to get him out over the plate,” Judge said of his approach in the at-bat. “At the end, he got me with a fastball that started at the corner and ran right off at the end. I wasn’t able to foul it off.”
After the Red Sox came back with four runs in the bottom of the inning, Reed threw a scoreless eighth and allowed Farrell to get the ball to closer Craig Kimbrel for the save.