Bombers bash Bosox
Homer helps snap Yanks out of skid
With the Yankees mired in a three-game losing streak and with an offense that had averaged barely more than two runs in that stretch, it was Greg Bird who finally provided a lift. His two-run, sixth-inning homer was just what the Bombers needed to stompmp on the division-leading Bosox, 6-2, Thursday in The Bronx.
The message delivered by CC Sabathia, Greg Bird and Gary Sanchez was a warning to the baseball universe that the Yankees aren’t quite ready to be embalmed and lowered into pinstripe coffins when it comes to the AL East.
With Sabathia providing six strong innings, Bird hitting a two-run homer and driving in three runs and Sanchez hitting a solo homer, driving in two runs and throwing a runner out trying to swipe second, the Yankees hung a 6-2 loss on the division-leading Red Sox on Thursday night in front of 43,309 at Yankee Stadium.
Every one of the 162-game schedule counts the same, but there is no avoiding that for the Yankees this fourgame series against their rivals in The Bronx means more than any other four tilts that have been or will be played this season.
With 29 games remaining, the Yankees are 4 ½ lengths back of the Red Sox, who get star second baseman Dustin Pedroia back from the disabled list Friday night. “To play big games against the Red Sox, this is fun,’’ said Sabathia, who escaped a first-inning bases-loaded jam by striking out Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers to strand three. The whiff of Devers fired up the veteran lefty. One of the three left on base was Eduardo Nunez, who for the second straight game against Sabathia attempted to bunt his way on and reached on the pitcher’s throwing error. Sabathia made no effort to hide his disgust with being bunted on. “It makes me want to beat them,’’ Sabathia said of the strategy that he labeled “weak.’’ Beating the Red Sox has become a habit for the 37-year-old lefty who improved to 11-5 by allowing a run and four hits. He tied a seasonhigh with five walks and whiffed six. He is 4-0 with a 1.04 ERA in four starts against the Red Sox this season and has won five straight starts. He is 15-9 in 32 starts versus the Red Sox since joining the Yankees in 2009. Andy Pettitte’s 20 wins are the most.
Bird, who homered and drove in four runs in the second game of Wednesday’s doubleheader loss to the Indians, hit a two-run homer to highlight a three-run sixth and singled in a run in the seventh.
“I don’t think I expected anything,’’ said Bird, who went on the disabled list with an ankle problem on May 2 and didn’t return to the big leagues until Saturday. “You roll with what you got.’’
Sanchez’s 28th homer in the third was to right field off Red Sox lefty Eduardo Rodriguez (4-5) and tied the score, 1-1. He also caught Andrew Benintendi attempting to swipe second in the fifth.
Bird hasn’t been around for much of the season, but he is aware what Sabathia has done when he starts following a Yankee loss.
“He steps up whenever you need him,’’ Bird said of Sabathia, who is 8-0 with a 1.44 ERA in 10 starts following Yankees losses this year.
David Robertson worked the seventh and eighth and Dellin Betances, who hadn’t pitched since Saturday, added some stress to the ninth by loading the bases on a walk and hitting two batters before he had recorded an out.
“We have to win as many as we can, obviously we are chasing these guys’’ said Betances, who gave up a run on a two-out basesloaded walk to Benintendi. “The guys swung the bat well, David Robertson was good and CC threw a hell of a game. I made it interesting but we secured a victory.’’
The win doesn’t mean the Yankees are alive and well in the AL East chase. They need to win two of the next three before the hearses turn back. Yet, 4 ½ games out on Sept. 1 is a lot better than 6 ½.