Rampaging Red Sox widen East lead

BOSTON — Nathan Eovaldi pitched eight dominant innings and closer Craig Kimbrel held on during a shaky ninth to help the Red Sox beat the Yankees for the third game in a row with a 4-1 victory Saturday.

One night after Rick Porcello threw an 86-pitch, one-hit complete game, Eovaldi shut out the Yankees on three hits in sending them to their season-high fourth straight loss. The Red Sox expanded their AL East lead over the second-place Yankees to a season-high 81⁄2 games.

Down to their last strike, the Yankees rallied against Kimbrel on back-to-back doubles by Giancarlo Stanton and Didi Gregorius. Walks to Aaron Hicks and Gleyber Torres loaded the bases before Greg Bird hit a routine fly ball for the final out.

J.D. Martinez hit his majorleague-leading 33rd home run and Mitch Moreland also connected against Yankees righthander Chance Adams, who made his debut in the majors.

The Red Sox, with the best record in baseball at 78-34, will go for a four-game sweep Sunday night, with David Price scheduled to face Masahiro Tanaka. The Yankees have been swept just once this season.

Eovaldi struck out four and walked one. He has pitched 15 shutout innings since he was acquired from the Rays at the trade deadline.

After the Red Sox won the opener 15-7, a game that had 27 hits and seven home runs, pitching has returned to the series. Porcello, Eovaldi and Kimbrel held the Yankees to six hits and two runs in the next 18 innings.

Adams was called up from Triple A and took the loss despite allowing just three hits — two of them homers — and three runs, walking one and striking out two in five innings.