Eovaldi strong, Red Sox run win streak to 5 over Yanks, 4-2

BOSTON (AP) — Playing against the New York Yankees seems to bring out the best in Nathan Eovaldi. His latest performance has the Boston Red Sox on the verge of a second straight sweep of their longtime rivals.

Eovaldi pitched neatly into the eighth inning, Adam Ottavino escaped a pair of late jams and the Boston held off New York 4-2 on Saturday night. The Red Sox improved to 5-0 against the Yankees this season.

It was a bounce-back night for Eovaldi (8-4), who was coming off his shortest outing of 2021 in which he lasted just four innings at Kansas City.

He was more composed at Fenway Park, keeping his fastball in the high 90s while allowing one run off seven hits, issuing no walks and striking out six over 7 2/3 innings.

“Tonight I felt like everything was working for me,” Eovaldi said. “The fastball command was there . ... I think that opened things up for the rest of the game as well.”

Eovaldi exited after

DJ LeMahieu’s homer made it 4-1 in the eighth. After Hirokazu Sawamura came on and issued three walks to load the bases with two outs, Ottavino got Luke Voit to ground out to end the threat.

Ottavino made his own trouble in the ninth, and LeMahieu hit an RBI single with two outs. But with two on, Ottavino struck out Aaron Judge for his fifth save in eight chances.

Judge said there’s no big secret to how the Yankees can avoid another setback to Boston.

“We’ve got to score first, that’s the big thing,” Judge said. “These guys have put the pressure on us early in the game . ... We’ve got to flip the switch.”

Ottavino, who spent the previous two seasons in New York before being traded to Boston in January, said it is still strange facing his former team. He said avoiding eye contact with the familiar faces was key to him staying composed l at e.

“The game’s are never easy either way,” Ottavino said, “Both teams really battled. Tonight they didn’t want to go away.”

Jordan Montgomery (3-2) took the loss, allowing three runs off eight hits, walking two and striking out five.

Trailing 3-0, New York had a chance to tie the game in the sixth when LeMahieu and Judge reached on back-to-back singles with one out.