Red Sox 11, Yankees 6: Boston clinches third straight A.L. East crown | Poll

NEW YORK — This third straight American League East title for the Red Sox feels defined by resilience.

Rookie manager? More than welcome.

Ailing club cornerstones? No problem.

An occasionally faulty bullpen? Just one more obstacle to overcome in the late innings.

Alex Cora has handled his roster with [...]

NEW YORK — This third straight American League East title for the Red Sox feels defined by resilience.

Rookie manager? More than welcome.

Ailing club cornerstones? No problem.

An occasionally faulty bullpen? Just one more obstacle to overcome in the late innings.

Alex Cora has handled his roster with aplomb, coaxing career years out of a handful of key pieces. Stars like Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez have taken the reins in the lineup. And 46 come-from-behind wins serve as a testament to Boston’s collective will and resourcefulness.

The latest example of this came Thursday night at Yankee Stadium, with the Red Sox finally putting New York away after missed opportunities the previous two evenings. What remained of the largest crowd at the ballpark in the Bronx this season, a sellout of 47,351 fans, looked on helplessly as Boston celebrated in front of them after an 11-6 victory.

“Like I’ve been saying all along, they don’t stop playing,” Cora said. “They just show up and keep playing. We’ve been hearing that a lot from the opposition lately. I think that’s the greatest compliment I can get for our team.”

Cora made enough of the right moves, Betts was a catalyst atop the lineup and Steven Wright was nails in relief while the Red Sox offense spent the final five innings battering the Yankees into submission. Betts capped a 4-for-5, five-RBI, three-run tour de force by crushing his 30th home run of the season in the top of the eighth, a towering three-run shot to the stands in left that served as the final nail in New York’s coffin.

“All the guys in the clubhouse, I think we all understand you have to play a full 27 outs to win the game,” Betts said. “Make them earn it. Every time you step on that field you have to earn your win. Nobody is going to roll over.”

Boston’s three runs in the seventh erased a one-run deficit, a rally started against Chad Green and finished against Dellin Betances. Jackie Bradley Jr. smoked a leadoff homer down the line in right to tie the game, with the ball settling in the second deck to make it 6-6. Christian Vazquez singled to right, Betances was summoned and the bases were loaded three batters later after an Andrew Benintendi double to right and a Martinez intentional walk.

Up stepped Xander Bogaerts in a 5-for-28 hole and needing just a sacrifice fly. He lifted a drive to deep center that chased home pinch runner Tzu-Wei Lin, giving the Red Sox the lead. Aaron Hicks gifted Boston an insurance run on the same play when he fired a one-hopper to third that caromed off Miguel Andujar and into the stands, an error that saw Benintendi awarded home plate all the way from second base.

“It’s just a bunch of guys that put together good at-bats,” Benintendi said. “Nobody gives at-bats away, even when we’re down by whatever — seven or eight runs. Nobody gives away at-bats.”

Wright had slowed the relentless New York attack by that point, his knuckleball dancing through the cool night air. He set down nine of the 10 men he faced after entering in the fifth, allowing just a two-out single to center in the seventh by Didi Gregorius. Ryan Brasier worked a 1-2-3 eighth and Craig Kimbrel recorded the final three outs in the ninth, cementing the 10th A.L. East crown for the Red Sox since 1975.

“I think this one, we’ve got a great group of guys,” Wright said. “We’ve got a good leader. Alex has done a great job throughout the season and we get along together.”

Boston looked to be on the ropes after the fourth, with starter Eduardo Rodriguez coughing up his second multiple-run lead of the night and Giancarlo Stanton striking what seemed to be a hammer blow. The slugger’s two-out grand slam to the boxes in right came after Rodriguez had issued three of his career-high seven walks in succession with two outs. Heath Hembree was summoned and left a slider within range of Stanton’s powerful bat, turning a 4-2 Boston advantage into a 6-4 deficit.

“It would have been easy to fold when Stanton hit that grand slam and kind of pack it in,” Benintendi said. “We put together good at-bats, didn’t quit and it started from pitch one of the game. It was a good win for sure.”

Betts led off the fifth with a double to deep left, the second of his two rockets that crashed off the wall. That chased Yankees’ starter Masahiro Tanaka, and it was the ballyhooed New York bullpen that was last to buckle under pressure. David Robertson induced Martinez to ground into a double play, allowing Betts to slip in the back door from third base, and Green fanned the side in order in the sixth before the wheels came off.

“It was a lot of work,” Cora said. “It’s not only me. The front office, the medical staff, the coaches, media [relations] — everything that has to do with the organization helped us out to accomplish this.”

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