NEW YORK — The Red Sox and Yankees are neck-and-neck in a playoff race for the first time in years, but if you were hoping for the kind of high-stakes drama that defined their face-offs in the early aughts, Thursday was not the game for you.

Until the ninth inning, that is.

For the first eight frames, the most comparable element to those hang-on-every-pitch contests in ‘03 and ‘04 were the sold-out crowd (47,036) and the slowness of the game — it took the Red Sox three hours and 25 minutes to complete a 6-3 victory.

But nothing says ‘Red Sox versus Yankees’ like late-inning heroics, and in his first career game in the Bronx, Roman Anthony made a little magic. After David Hamilton reached on an error by first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, Anthony blasted Yerry De los Santos’ first pitch to him. The Red Sox rookie’s fifth big league home run soared 370 feet high and deep to right for the first multi-run margin of the contest.

Yet overall in the opener of this four-game series, baseball’s storied rivalry appeared evenly matched in their struggles to capitalize on scoring opportunities – the Red Sox were 3 for 19 with runners in scoring position and left 14 men on base, the Yankees 2 for 7 with runners in scoring position with 10 men left — and their reliance on their bullpens.

Boston stranded at least one baserunner in each of the first eight innings. New York did the same until Garrett Whitlock, whom they famously opted not to protect in the Rule 5 draft during the ‘20-21 offseason, became the first pitcher to throw a 1-2-3 inning in the eighth.

The Red Sox scored first, but not because of Alex Bregman’s one-out walk in the first or his ground-rule double to lead off the third. Masataka Yoshida’s double to lead off the fourth was similarly fruitless.

Rather, the Red Sox took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second on a comedy of Yankees errors. Three within the first three at-bats, to be precise.

Leading off the inning, Yoshida reached on a fielding error by Yankees starter Luis Gil (5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 5 BB, 3 K). Ceddanne Rafaela’s force out sent Yoshida back to the dugout, but a throwing error by second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. allowed Rafaela to advance to second. The Sox center fielder then stole third while Hamilton worked a walk.

Hamilton stole second, and advanced to third on a throwing error by catcher Ben Rice as Rafaela came home to score.

The Red Sox could do no more. Gil picked off Hamilton at third, then walked Carlos Narváez before getting Anthony to ground out.

Unlike the three consecutive bases-loaded situations between the eighth and 10th in Tuesday’s loss to the Orioles, the Red Sox managed to get something out of their full diamond in the fifth inning on Thursday night. A game-tying sacrifice fly by new first baseman Nathaniel Lowe ensured the inning wasn’t a total waste.

Boston filled up the bases again in the seventh, and for the fourth time in their last 11 innings dating back to Tuesday, left them loaded.

The Red Sox tallied 10 hits and struck out only five times. They drew nine walks.

Even with Anthony’s blast, which capped off a 2-for-5 performance that included a walk, two runs and three RBIs, Thursday marked the 49th time in 71 games dating back to the start of the ‘21 season a Red Sox-Yankees game was decided by three runs or fewer. The Red Sox are 37-34 against the Yankees in that span.

Start me up

Compared to his most recent start, 6 1/3-inning, one-run performance against the Marlins, Thursday night was a short stint for Lucas Giolito, who yielded three earned runs over 4 2/3 innings.

Managing his pitching staff aggressively, Red Sox manager Alex Cora didn’t allow Giolito to finish the fifth inning. After the righty issued a leadoff walk to Aaron Judge and induced a pair of infield pop-ups from Cody Bellinger and Giancarlo Stanton, Cora swapped in Justin Wilson.

The Yankees countered with aggressiveness of their own. Judge promptly stole second, and Wilson, who hadn’t issued a walk since July 11, walked Rice. Chisholm put the home team back on top with an RBI single to shallow center that deflected off Trevor Story, and Wilson walked Paul Goldschmidt on four pitches to load the bases.

Fortunately for the Red Sox, their eternal rivals were afflicted with a similar malady. After opening with a 3-0 count on Ryan McMahon, Wilson got the new Yankees third baseman to strike out swinging to leave the bases loaded.

Facts and figures

The Red Sox are 46-19 when scoring first. They’re 28-34 on the road, and 21-15 against the American League East.

Since the start of the ‘23 season, the Red Sox are 21-12 against the Yankees.

Buehler to the bullpen?

Cora was cagey when asked if Walker Buehler was still in line to start for the Red Sox in Baltimore Monday, saying, “We haven’t talked about it yet.”

During Thursday’s contest, MassLive’s Chris Cotillo reported that the Red Sox are considering moving the struggling starter to the bullpen.

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