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For the fifth time in six years, the Yankees will get their first look at the Red Sox in June or — in the case of the 2020 COVID-delayed season — even later. 

The Yanks’ longtime rivals will arrive for three games in The Bronx beginning Friday, giving Aaron Boone’s first-place club a chance to put further distance between them in the AL East race. 

The retooled Red Sox (30-34) will enter 9.5 games behind the Yankees, and they will be without injured free-agent signing Alex Bregman (quad) this weekend. 

“Obviously, it’s been a tough start for them, but a lot of close games that they’ve been on the wrong side of,” Aaron Boone said before the Yankees defeated the Guardians, 4-0, in Thursday’s series finale. “We really viewed them in spring training and early in the season as, like, a really talented team. We know what they’re capable of and feel like that can still be a reality for them. 

“We feel like a really good, hungry club is gonna be coming in here, that it certainly hasn’t started how they wanted to, but I feel like they’re very dangerous.” 

Imported former All-Star hurlers Walker Buehler and Garrett Crochet will be on the mound the first two nights for Boston, while first-year Yankee vets such as Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt will get their first taste of the rivalry. 

“I’m actually shocked that it’s taken so long, that it’s June and we haven’t faced them yet,” said Bellinger, a former teammate of Buehler’s with the Dodgers. “I’m very excited about it. I always think of that ’04 Red Sox team, and obviously you know about the rivalry from the late ’90s and the 2000s and all the years before that. I’m sure the atmosphere is going to be really fun. And it’s here in New York to start, and then we’ll go up there next week (June 13-15). 

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“Every game is an opportunity to put more distance between us, but I think what this team does a great job of is at the end of the day, we’re here to win, and it doesn’t matter who’s on the other side. Honestly, that’s how we approach every series.” 

Goldschmidt likened Yanks-Sox to the rivalry the Cardinals, his former team, have had for decades with the Cubs, only “probably even more” intense. 

“Obviously, we all know the history of the rivalry, and those kinds of games are always fun, especially with our fans when both sides are a part of it. We definitely feel that excitement,” Goldschmidt said. “I know when I came over here, the guys and past players pointed to the games against the Mets and the Red Sox as something different. 

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“I definitely felt that when we played the Mets [in May], and that’s always fun. Cubs-Cardinals was that way in St. Louis, so much history between the teams and the fan bases. … Everyone loves to play in those atmospheres and those moments where there’s a little bit more emotion.” 

Righty Will Warren will pitch the opener for the Yanks, coming off a rough outing last week against the Dodgers in which he coughed up seven earned runs without making it through two innings. 

“For me, I’m just looking forward to getting back out there again after last time,” Warren said ahead of his first career start against the Red Sox. “I’m trying to treat it like it’s another game, but obviously it’s bigger than that to a lot of people. I think we’re all kind of brought into this rivalry, but it’s exciting and gonna be fun. 

“Being at home with these fans supporting us all the way through, that’s always encouraging no matter who we’re playing. But being the Red Sox, I’m sure they’re gonna be giving it to them.”