For two straight games, the Boston Red Sox jumped on the New York Yankees early, took their longtime rival out of the game and continued to stay firmly in the postseason race.
Now, the Red Sox will go for a sweep of the three-game series Sunday afternoon when they visit the scuffling Yankees, who will try to stop a seven-game losing streak that has seen them fall eight games out of the final wild-card spot in the American League.
Boston has won the past six meetings this season by outscoring the Yankees 44-14. In the first two games of this weekend series, the Red Sox produced 12 hits in each, outscored New York 16-4 and held big leads after the second inning in each game.
On Saturday, Luis Urias hit a grand slam in the second inning — his second straight game with a slam — and Connor Wong added a two-run homer off New York ace Gerrit Cole. Rafael Devers added his 28th homer in the ninth and is hitting .387 (12-for-31) against the Yankees this year.
Since June 14, the Red Sox are 32-23. Boston is 7-3 in its past 10 contests and enters Sunday’s game within striking distance of the Seattle Mariners for the third AL wild-card spot, three games behind.
“From here, now every day matters,” Boston manager Alex Cora said. “It matters from March 29, but now you can feel it. They’re in a good place, and hopefully we can come tomorrow and finish the job.”
The Yankees are trying to avoid their first eight-game skid since Aug. 19-26, 1995. At 60-63, the Yankees are three games under .500 this late in a season for the first time since that same month.
Aaron Judge homered for the second straight game, but the Yankees were held to two hits on Saturday. New York also struck out nine times.
“I think our backs are up against the wall,” New York’s Isiah Kiner-Falefa said. “It’s up to us now to see how we respond.”
New York has been outscored 45-15 during this skid and has not held a lead since last Sunday when it allowed five runs in the ninth of an 8-7 loss to the host Miami Marlins.
New York’s Clarke Schmidt (8-7, 4.76 ERA) will attempt to rebound from a loss after allowing a career-worst eight runs on nine hits in 2 1/3 innings during Monday’s 11-3 loss at Atlanta.
Before his rough start against the Braves, Schmidt had allowed three runs or less in 15 straight starts dating to May 19.
Schmidt is 0-1 with a 4.32 ERA in six career appearances (two starts) against the Red Sox. He started against Boston in consecutive outings on June 11 and 18 when he allowed a combined three runs on nine hits in 10 innings.
Fellow right-hander Josh Winckowski (3-1, 3.20) will serve as the opener for the first time before Nick Pivetta follows as a bulk reliever.
Pivetta is 4-3 with a 5.88 ERA in 11 starts and 4-2 with a 2.40 ERA in 18 relief appearances this season. He is 1-3 with a 7.71 ERA in 11 career appearances (seven starts) against the Yankees.
Pivetta is 1-0 and has yet to allow a run in three relief appearances spanning 4 2/3 innings against the Yankees this year.
–Field Level Media