The Red Sox kept opening the door for the Yankees, who refused to walk through it.
Clearly they were just waiting for the drama to peak before they finally made their move.
After Clay Holmes recorded the final two outs of the top of the 10th, Juan Soto delivered a walk-off single in the bottom of the inning to lift the Yankees to a 2-1 win over the Red Sox on Thursday night in The Bronx.
Leading off the inning against Red Sox reliever Josh Winckowski, Soto shot a line drive up the middle, past the dive of shortstop Trevor Story, scoring pinch-runner Jon Berti from second to give the Yankees their second straight extra-inning, walk-off win.
Wednesday’s came against the Royals, who the Yankees could see again in the postseason, while Thursday’s came against a Red Sox team that is fighting to keep its playoff hopes alive, upping the tension both nights.
“We all know how fun October is,” Soto said after his first walk-off as a Yankee. “I think we’re carrying that in the last month of the season and try to take it all the way to November.”
With the Orioles idle, the Yankees (85-62) extended their lead atop the AL East to two games with 15 games remaining.
“With the Orioles behind us, we’re trying to get as much distance as possible and win as many games as possible,” said Nestor Cortes, who delivered five innings of one-run ball in his return to the rotation.
Soto’s game-winning hit was the Yankees’ first with runners in scoring position all night after they had gone 0-for-5 through the first nine innings and left nine men on base — eight of them by Anthony Volpe.
In relief of Cortes — on a night when Luke Weaver and Jake Cousins were unavailable — the Yankees got strong relief work from Ian Hamilton and Tim Hill, who combined for three perfect innings to bridge the gap to the ninth.
Tommy Kahnle then worked around a double and a walk in the top of the ninth before Red Sox closer Kenley Jansen breezed through the bottom of the inning to send the game to extras.
Kahnle got the first out of the 10th before Holmes — who entered to a mix of boos and cheers — quickly retired Ceddanne Rafaela and Jarren Duran to give Soto a chance to win it.
“We know what we’re playing for here,” said Holmes, who was removed from the closer role last week. “It’s an atmosphere that gets the best out of everybody. Obviously you want to come through and winning here is special. Any time you can come through and help teammates and get a win here at Yankee Stadium, it’s awesome.”
Making his first start after pitching in relief last Saturday against the Cubs — a move he admitted he was “upset” about — Cortes struck out nine and generated 19 whiffs. The only damage came on Danny Jansen’s game-tying home run in the fifth inning.
Whether Cortes did enough to stick in the rotation remains to be seen. The Yankees are taking one turn as a six-man rotation but are expected to trim down to five by next week, with the odd man out likely moving to the bullpen.
“I know last week I might have come off like I was asking for too much, but I got my point across,” Cortes said. “At the end of the day, I’m going to do whatever this team needs me to do to win.”
Gleyber Torres gave the Yankees a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when he led off with an opposite-field home run off Cooper Criswell.
But after that, the Yankees went cold, with Volpe at the heart of their missed opportunities. With runners on first and second, he grounded out to end the second inning. Then in the fourth and sixth innings, he came up with the bases loaded and two outs, but flew out to left both times.
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But they finally cashed in in the 10th before it was too late. Soto had fouled a ball off his foot Wednesday (before hitting a two-run homer that gave the Yankees the lead), and had to get it loose at different times Thursday when it tightened up on him. But he looked just fine running away from teammates who charged him after he delivered the walk-off.
“Ending great,” manager Aaron Boone said of the last two nights. “Guys are playing really well. We haven’t had a lot of offense the last few nights, but doing enough.”
