Yankees-Red Sox meet for 1st time in the spring

FORT MYERS, FLA. » The Yankees-Red Sox rivalry was renewed on Saturday.

Even if it was only the first meeting in spring training.

Boston sent out a fairly representative lineup for the game, while the Yankees had a few regulars along with some youngsters and New York won 5-3.

The Red Sox won the American League East last season, for the second consecutive year, with a 93-69 record by two games over the Yankees.

But the Yankees went deeper in the postseason, beating the Twins in the wild-card game and the Indians in the ALDS before falling in the ALCS to the World Series champion Astros, who knocked out the Red Sox in the ALDS.

In December, the Yankees acquired slugger Giancarlo Stanton from the Miami Marlins, powering the middle of their lineup with the reigning home run champs from each league, along with Aaron Judge. Stanton and Judge led the majors with 59 and 52 homers, respectively, last season.

The Red Sox countered that last week, adding J.D. Martinez, who finished third in the majors with 45 homers last season.

None of the sluggers appeared in the game.

“It should be fun,” Martinez said of joining the rivalry. “But I’m not playing today.”

First-year managers Alex Cora of the Red Sox and Aaron Boone of the Yankees each has been part of the rivalry during their playing careers.

“I played in DodgersGiants, Red Sox-Yankees pretty similar,” Cora said. “It’s big for everybody. We had this function yesterday and somebody brought it up. ‘Big game tomorrow ... “What? Not really. People love it. It’s good for baseball. People feel we’re going to be in the hunt.