7&7 ON THE SOX!
Yanks sweep Boston in mini DH to pull even in standings
When the Yankees last saw the Red Sox, they were heading in different directions. Tuesday, the new-look Yankees, with a balanced lineup and a confidence in comebacks, caught up with Boston and continued to climb back into the playoff race.
Sweeping the split doubleheader with a 2-0 victory in the nightcap at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees evened up with the team that had tortured them in the first half of the season.
After making trades to balance their right-handed heavy lineup with Joey Gallo and Anthony Rizzo (who has been out since Aug. 8 with COVID-19), shoring up the bullpen at the deadline with Joely Rodriguez and Clay Holmes (also on the COVID-19 IL) and getting some help from the minors in surprising starter Luis Gil, the Yankees are tied with the Red Sox and both are five games back of the division-leading Rays in the American League East. After leaving Boston nine games behind the Red
Sox on July 25, they are now percentage points ahead of them for the second AL Wild Card.
“That’s great. I mean, we’ve done a lot of work and a lot more to go,” Giancarlo Stanton said. “We’re in a good spot. So just got to keep feeding off these wins, these good games, these great, great outings on the mound and good at bats.”
The Yankees (68-52), who won the afternoon game 5-3, have won five straight and seven of their last 10 games. Since that last game in Fenway, the Bombers have gone 17-5. They are a season-high 16-games above .500.
In the nightcap Tuesday, the Yankees did it with power against Red Sox righty Nathan Eovaldi.
Luke Voit, who drove in two in the first game, homered in the second. It was his sixth home run of the season and just his 20th RBI after missing most of the season with knee and oblique injuries. He had three RBI on the day. Voit has always been a gamer against the Red Sox, hitting .353 with 11 home runs and 24 RBI in 36 career games against them.
“I wasn’t here for a lot of it, but a lot of pressure. I think this team was projected to win, like 110 games or whatever and we were kind of playing .500 ball for a while,” Voit said. “But, once you get a couple of wins, you get the momentum, you start getting guys back. I mean, it’s definitely boosted confidence in the locker room and it’s been great.
“We are a confident group. We just got to keep doing what we’re doing and having fun,” Voit said. “That’s the name of the game.”
Stanton hit his 19th home run of the season in the fourth inning of the second game, a 441-foot bomb over the visitors’ bullpen in left field. Stanton drove in two runs in the two games.
Gil, who was called up for an emergency start when Gerrit Cole went on the COVID-19 injury list Aug. 3, continued to impress. He had to work harder than he did in his first two big-league starts, but Gill got through 4.2 innings unscored upon and his ERA remained at 0.00. He worked around three hits — two in the fifth when Aaron Boone was forced to come out and get him — and four walks. He struck out four.
That’s 15.2 scoreless innings to start his career, the longest such stretch by a Yankee in the Modern Era, surpassing Joba Chamberlain’s 15.1 innings.
Gil worked himself into a jam in the fifth, when he gave up a leadoff single to Jarren Duran and a one-out single to Enrique Hernandez. With two on and two out, Gill walked Xander Bogaerts to load the bases and Boone went out to get him.
Wandy Peralta got Rafael Devers to ground out to end the inning and protect the two-run lead.
These are only the Yankees’ fourth and fifth victories of the season against the Red Sox (69-53), who lead the season series 10-5. But the feeling around both teams seems to have made a dramatic reversal since they last met. Boston is 12-10 in the 22 games since that series.
And the vibe around the Yankees is different now.
“The energy in there’s great, the energy on the field is incredible, too,” Yankees fillin shortstop Andrew Velazquez said. “I got chills out there a few times. We’re showing up and I feel the vibe like we expect to win every day. So the boys are battling.
“It’s beautiful.”