BOSTON — Red Sox rookie Hunter Dobbins talked the talk, then walked the walk by beating the Yankees twice in a seven-day period this week.
Dobbins has been a headline-maker in recent days by first telling The Boston Herald that he’d rather retire than join the Yankees, then having to respond publicly after a New York Post report found Dobbins’ claims that his father, Lance, had played in the Yankees minor league system and was friends with Andy Pettitte to be completely unfounded. Through it all, the 25-year-old vowed to cancel out the noise. He looked quite unfazed Saturday night at Fenway, allowing just two hits and striking out five batters in six shutout innings as the Red Sox won, 4-3.
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Was it more satisfying after the week that was?
“No,” said Dobbins. “I think what makes this one more satisfying is that we won the series and we’re building momentum. We’re crawling back into this race. There’s a lot of season left. We’re building momentum for the rest of the year and that’s what‘s more satisfying to me.”
Dobbins, a relatively unheralded prospect who has emerged as a young bright spot in Boston’s rotation so far this season, has become something of a lightning rod when it comes to the 2025 version of the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry. ESPN’s national broadcast repeatedly harped on the rookie going public with his disdain for the Yankees and multiple New York veterans, including Aaron Judge and Jazz Chisholm Jr. Things hit a new level when The Post’s Joel Sherman looked into Dobbins’ claims about his father and found them to be false. Exactly what led to the discrepancy remains unclear. But through it all — including a media scrum with local reporters Wednesday at Fenway and national appearances since — Dobbins has appeared unbothered by the noise.
“The whole backstory, it’s something that I had heard growing up and seeing pictures of from my dad,” he said Wednesday. “So at the end of the day, it’s just from my dad and what I kind of grew my love for the game (from). At the end of the day, I don’t go and fact check my dad or anything like that.”
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After allowing three runs on four hits (including two homers) in 5+ innings in a primetime win Sunday night, Dobbins vowed to be ultra-focused before Saturday’s start, which represented his first time facing a team for the second time in the big leagues. His efficient attack, which included a fastball that topped out at 98.2 mph and a five-pitch mix that induced seven whiffs, kept New York off-balance throughout the night. No batter got past second base against Dobbins, who became the first Sox rookie to allow two or fewer hits in an outing of 6+ innings since Clay Buchholz threw his no-hitter in September 2007.
“He was under control the whole night,” said manager Alex Cora.
Judge took Dobbins deep in the second inning Sunday but was unable to do any damage six days later. Dobbins used an off-speed heavy attack to keep the superstar at bay, retiring him three times (including back-to-back strikeouts to start). Judge’s game-tying blast in the ninth inning Friday has been the highlight of his trip to Fenway so far. But Red Sox pitchers have also managed to punch him out six times in eight at-bats.
“(Garrett) Crochet has an electric fastball,” Dobbins said of his teammate, who used velocity to attack Judge. “I can throw it hard but the shape isn’t quite as elite. So we knew we had better weapons to go at him with.”
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Dobbins was so good in the first five innings of his outing that Cora, veering from a pregame script, sent him out for a sixth inning despite the top of the lineup coming out for a third time (and hitters posting a .974 OPS in their third at-bats against Dobbins so far this year). With Dobbins at 82 pitches and with the Red Sox up, 4-0, Cora decided it was time to turn to Luis Guerrero for the seventh.
“It was a lot of fun,” said Dobbins. “Getting to go out there after we won last night knowing we could win the series tonight, the crowd was amazing. It always is here. To be able to perform for our guys like that, to be able to go six strong and for A.C. to have the faith in me to go and face the top of their lineup for the third time, it meant a lot. I was really glad to get those outs.”
Dobbins didn’t take the bait postgame and pile on the Yankees after beating them twice. But he has become something of a young breakout star for the Red Sox this season and somewhat quietly has a 4-1 record and 3.74 ERA in 55 ⅓ innings in his first taste of big league action.
“I’m more worried about the win column,” he said. “Whether it’s against them or anybody, my job is to try to help this team win as many ballgames as we can and pitch in meaningful, playoff baseball games.
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“I love being able to perform and get those wins for the fans here. They deserve it here. It’s a great city, passionate fan base. Being able to get those wins, especially twice in one week, means a lot.”
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