Rick Porcello retired the last 21 batters he faced en route to a one-hitter, and Steve Pearce hit a two-run homer in an explosive three-run first inning Friday night as the host Boston Red Sox beat the New York Yankees 4-1 in a game that featured Alex Cora’s first ejection as Red Sox manager.
Porcello (14-4) hit Brett Gardner with his third pitch of the game and served up a home run to Miguel Andujar leading off the third inning.
But he did not give up another baserunner the rest of the way in his 10th career complete game and first of the season.
The right-hander struck out nine and did not walk a batter. He faced just one batter over the minimum, with Gardner having been erased on a double play in the first inning.
Pearce, who homered three times in Thursday’s series-opening, 15-7 win, connected off Luis Severino (14-5) with one out in the bottom of the first after Andrew Benintendi had smacked a ground-rule double.
The homer was Pearce’s ninth of the season.
“I think the story is Rick Porcello,” said Red Sox manager Cora.
“He was outstanding today. Forget me getting thrown out, or them throwing at Mookie. I think the story has to be Rick.”
The Red Sox weren’t done scoring in the first. Ian Kinsler drew a two-out walk, stole second and came around on a single by Eduardo Nunez for a 3-0 lead.
Much had already taken place before Pearce’s homer, however.
After Porcello hit Gardner in the top of the first, Severino responded by brushing back Mookie Betts leading off the bottom of the first. That prompted plate umpire Adam Hamari to warn both teams.
Cora argued the need for a warning and was ejected. The Red Sox started the second with a new second baseman after Kinsler strained his left hamstring on his first-inning steal. Betts moved in from the outfield to play second for the first time in his career.
After Andujar got the Yankees on the board with his 14th homer of the year in the third, the Red Sox regained their three-run cushion on Mitch Moreland’s RBI single in the fifth to score J.D. Martinez, who had doubled.
Severino was pulled two outs into the sixth inning and charged with four runs on seven hits. He walked three and struck out two.
Moreland, with a pair of singles, was the only player in the game with multiple hits. The Red Sox out-hit the Yankees 7-1. The win was Boston’s sixth in its last seven games, and gave the Red Sox a 6-5 lead over the Yankees in the season series. The Red Sox increased their lead in the American League East to 7 1/2 games over the Yankees, who lost their third straight.

A’s walk off over Tigers in 13th on Laureano’s first MLB hit
Ramon Laureano’s first major league hit, a 13th-inning single that one-hopped the fence in right field, drove in Nick Martini with the only run of the game Friday night as the Oakland Athletics outlasted the Detroit Tigers 1-0 in Oakland, California, in one of the season’s best pitching duels.
Well after left-handers Brett Anderson of the A’s and Blaine Hardy of the Tigers had taken no-hitters past the midpoint of the contest and left a scoreless tie, Martini led off the 13th with a walk off the fifth Tigerspitcher, right-hander Buck Farmer (3-4).
Two outs later, Jonathan Lucroy singled Martini to second, from where he coasted home on Laureano’s walk-off hit to the opposite field.
The 24-year-old Laureano had been promoted from Triple-A earlier in the day. He’d gone 0-for-4 with two strikeouts before the game-winner. Emilio Pagan (3-0), who worked a one-hit top half of the inning, was credited with the win.
Neither team had a hit until the Tigers’ Jose Iglesias doubled to left field with one out in the sixth, ending Anderson’s no-hit bid after 5 1/3 innings. Iglesias got no farther than second base.
The Tigers’ best chance to score came in the seventh, when Nick Castellanos singled and Niko Goodrum walked with no outs. Castellanos reached third when John Hicks grounded into a double play, and Anderson escaped the threat when he got Victor Martinez to ground out.
Anderson was pulled after seven innings, having allowed two hits and one walk. He struck out two.
Hardy, who had walked Matt Olson in the second and fifth innings, finally allowed a hit when Jed Lowrie beat out a grounder to shortstop leading off the seventh. But like Olson both times he got aboard, the A’s couldn’t get Lowrie farther than first base.
Hardy was done after seven innings, having given up just the one hit. He walked two and struck out six. The first Oakland batter to reach second was Stephen Piscotty, who doubled leading off the eighth against Louis Coleman. But the right-hander got the next three A’s in order, retaining the scoreless tie.