Alex Cora manages circles around Aaron Boone as Red Sox assert dominance vs. Yankees

If you ever wondered what a manager worth every penny of a $7 million per year contract extension looks like, then all you needed to do was tune into Fenway Park on Friday night. Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora, fresh off signing a new deal to stay with the club while they were on a road trip to Denver, put all of his prowess on display, all while embarrassing rival New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone in the process.

A Yankees team that has had it "right in front of them" from Boone's perspective all season -- despite having one of baseball's worst records since mid-June -- seemed to actually be making good on that during the game. After a back-and-forth affair early, a big top of the seventh inning punctuated by a gargantuan 470-foot Aaron Judge home run, the Bronx Bombers were up 7-4.

That's when the masterclass vs. disasterclass from a managerial perspective began.

It somewhat started in the bottom of the sixth with a curious decision from Boone to bring Tim Hill into the game but it was even more curious to bring him back out in the seventh instead of immediately turning to Luke Weaver. Along with that, Boone then substituted D.J. Lemahieu in at first base for Ben Rice. While Rice has struggled and was so in this game, he still sports an OPS some 200 points higher than the struggling veteran.

But we're just getting started here.

Alex Cora puts Aaron Boone in a bodybag in Red Sox comeback win

After Hill walked the first batter of the inning in the seventh, Weaver then came into the game but a gutsy Cedanne Rafaela at-bat ended with a full-count two-run home run to cut the Yankees lead to one -- which may not have been the case had Hill not started the inning on the mound.

Weaver came out for the eighth inning and struggled, even after rebounding with two strikeouts following the Rafaela longball. He allowed a Rob Refsnyder single, then walked Connor Wong after being ahead in the count. Rafael Devers just missed one to fly out, which was the end of Weaver's night. That's when Boone made the curious decision to call on Clay Holmes, who the Red Sox dominated earlier this season at Yankee Stadium.

And they did so again, largely thanks to Cora, on Friday night.

With the righty coming in to pitch, Cora pinch-hit Wilyer Abreu for Tyler O'Neill. That was immediately profitable as the rookie tied the game with an RBI double with only one out. Masataka Yoshida then came to the plate and, while he didn't put one into the stands like he did against Holmes earlier in the season to spark a Boston win, he did belt a single up the middle to score both Abreu and Wong to give the Red Sox the 9-7 lead after they trailed by three runs just an inning-and-a-half prior.

Remember the LeMahieu portion of the conversation? That came into play for Boone and the Yankees as well in the top of the ninth. Kenley Jansen struck out Aaron Judge to start the inning but then allowed back-to-back singles. With one out, LeMahieu came to the plate.

There's a bit to unpack there. Not only did Boone essentially sub out Rice and ultimately set up a right-on-right matchup for this crucial at-bat instead of having the lefty Rice as the dish but LeMahieu has been truly awful against Jansen in his career. Prior to this at-bat, he was 2-for-14 with seven strikeouts. And by the end of it, he was 2-for-15 with eight strikeouts. Anthony Volpe then grounded out into a game-ending fielder's choice.

Some might call it luck but Cora is a wizard when it comes to his substitutions for matchups and shuffling the lineup and defense to make it happen. It proved true with the Abreu pinch hit (even if David Hamilton had come in earlier and struggled at the plate) and ultimately broke the game open for the Red Sox. On the other hand, every Boone decision came back to bite the Yankees painfully.

There's a reason that, prior to his new extension, there was buzz that the Yankees would be after Alex Cora this winter if he became available. And that reason was the way he danced circles around Aaron Boone on Friday night -- and the way he's done that all season as the Red Sox are now 5-2 against their rivals on the year.