Yankees clinch home field, tie MLB record for homers

BOSTON — It was one bad inning for J.A. Happ, but one that included an asterisk.

What it means as far as the veteran left-hander getting the start in Wednesday night’s wild-card game against the A’s is now in the hands of key Yankees decision-makers, who have all the regular-season information they’re going to get.

On a night when the Yankees hit four home runs to tie the major-league record for homers in a season (264) and clinched home-field advantage in the wild-card game by defeating the Red Sox, 11-6, at Fenway Park, Happ allowed four runs and four hits in six innings.

The four runs came on Steve Pearce’s two-out grand slam in the sixth inning that cut the Yankees’ 8-0 lead in half. But Happ, who retired the first nine batters he faced in throwing five dominant innings, entered the sixth as dominant as he’s been this season and certainly as a Yankee.

Happ, 6-0 with a 2.34 ERA in his first 10 starts since being acquired at the trade deadline, struck out Blake Swihart to start the sixth and allowed a hit to Mookie Betts, just the second hit off him to that point.

Andrew Benintendi followed with a drive to center that was misjudged by Aaron Hicks, back in the lineup after sitting for three days to rest tightness in his left hamstring. The ball sailed over his head for a double. After J.D. Martinez popped out, Happ walked Xander Bogaerts, then saw Pearce pounce on a first-pitch fastball and line it over the Green Monster to make it 84. It improved Pearce to 11-for-32 with six homers in his career against Happ, who entered the inning having allowed all of two earned runs in his previous 28 innings.