Red Sox shake off nightmare flight, beat sloppy Yankees in series opener

The Red Sox shook off a nightmare trip and then beat the Yankees 6-3 in the series opener at Fenway Park, following a mechanical failure that turned a Denver-bound return into an unscheduled emergency landing. Boston’s team plane experienced the problem on Wednesday night, and it took more than five hours before the club was back in the air on a new aircraft. The Red Sox finally landed in Boston around 5 a.m. Thursday, before playing later that day. Despite the lost sleep, Boston rallied with four runs in the bottom of the fifth and benefited from four Yankees errors. Caleb Durbin, back after leaving Wednesday’s game in Colorado with a dislocated pinky finger, delivered a go-ahead two-run home run to cap the turnaround. Interim manager Chad Tracy reduced typical pregame activities, and the club had already sent starting pitchers Connelly Early and Payton Tolle home in advance to stay fresh.