The Yankees and Red Sox have played two games this week, and they’ve played two near-classics. The first had Yankees fans replaying countless memories of close calls and blown leads, a late meltdown leaving fresh scars in a 3-1 loss. The second flipped the narrative, the Yankees winning a few key battles late to squeak by. It was all an effort to set the stage for a pivotal Game 3 that for many must’ve felt inevitable.

That the Yankees survived to see a Game 3 tonight in the Bronx was in no small part thanks to execution on the margins. Of course, big swings like Ben Rice’s two-run shot in the first were essential as well, but the contest could’ve swung on any number of small moments, and I want to highlight just a few from late in the game, starting in the top of the seventh. Carlos Rodó

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