IN SPORTS: RED SOX KNOCK YANKEES OUT OF PLAYOFFS

NEW YORK — The Red Sox took it all in stride when Aaron Judge walked out of Fenway Park on Saturday night carrying a boom box that was blasting, “New York, New York.” It turns out the Red Sox have nothing against the tune, or the town. They came into the latter and started spreading their own news.

It was that they have enough poise, depth and, especially, pitching to nullify the Yankees’ homefield advantage. They made a big dice roll, using ace Chris Sale in the eighth inning to protect a three-run lead rather than save him for a potential Game 5 Thursday in Boston. Ultimately, the Red Sox completed a sweep of two games in the Bronx and won the American League Division Series, advancing to the League Championship Series against the Astros.

“Our goals are way up there, way up there,” Red Sox first-year manager Alex Cora said. “Obviously, it started with the division and then the best record and home-field advantage. But now this is step four or whatever it is. Our goal is to win 11 games in October.”

They won their decisive third against the Yankees, 4-3, with Cora again pushing all the right buttons. The bullpen had been the team’s weak link, so porous that the manager had to use starter Rick Porcello for key outs in Game 1. But relief pitching was a rock of strength in the clincher, with Sale serving as the bridge to closer Craig Kimbrel.

“Today” trumps both tomorrow and yesterday in the postseason. On the latter score, Cora decided not to start Brock Holt after the second baseman had on Monday become the first ever to hit for the cycle — single, double, triple and home run — in a postseason game. Ian Kinsler, Holt’s replacement and the son of a guy who grew up playing ball near Yankee Stadium, hit a key double in the three-run third.

Holt, a lefty batter, had said after his landmark effort Monday, in reference to Yankees starter CC Sabathia: “I don’t have very many at-bats against him. He throws with his left arm. I normally don’t get in on those games.”

Cora acknowledged that he delivered the bad news to Holt on Tuesday morning. “I told him, ‘It’s a tough league,’ “Cora said before Game 4 at Yankee Stadium Tuesday. “He knew. He knew where we were going.”

They are moving on after five strong innings Tuesday from Porcello, who grew up in Morristown, N.J., as the son

of ardent Yankee fans (he rooted for the Mets). After that, the Red Sox were able to get four scoreless innings from their uncertain bullpen.

Just as Cora had called on Porcello to get key outs in Game 1 — possibly preserving the whole series — he used Sale to hold the Yankees down in the eighth inning on Tuesday night. Cora had said a few hours earlier that, as Astros bench coach last October, he had not agreed with the decision to use Astros ace Justin Verlander to close out the Division Series against the Red Sox. Yet it worked then and it worked again this time.

“It’s a fine line,” Cora said. “You’ve got to be smart. We’ll see. We’ll see how it goes.”

He and his team had remained unfazed after having lost Game 2 and apparently having squandered the momentum. If anything, they were amused by Judge’s stunt. They were not flustered by the intense noise in Yankee Stadium.

They know they still have a long way to go, despite a franchise-record 108 regular-season victories and a convincing series win over the most bitter rival. Baseball history is dotted with teams that had stellar years that have been all but forgotten by the sport’s collective memory because they did not win the World Series. The 1906 Cubs and 2001 Mariners each won 116 regular-season games but came up short in