Luke Voit hit a go-ahead two-run single with one out in the fifth inning, Jonathan Loaisiga escaped a bases-loaded jam in the seventh and the New York Yankees held on for a 5-3 victory over the visiting Boston Red Sox on Tuesday afternoon in the opener of a day-night doubleheader.
The Yankees beat the Red Sox for the fourth time in 14 meetings this season, won for the 16th time in 21 games and moved within one game of Boston for the American League’s second wild-card spot.
The Yankees loaded the bases in the fifth when Garrett Whitlock (4-2) and Josh Taylor combined to issue three straight one-out walks. Whitlock walked Brett Gardner and Aaron Judge before Taylor issued a free pass to Joey Gallo.
Gallo’s walk set it up for Voit who popped the next pitch into short center field. Second baseman Enrique Hernandez raced back and tried to make a running over the shoulder catch but the ball dropped a few feet over him and center fielder Hunter Renfroe couldn’t make the play.
After Gardner and Judge scored on Voit’s clutch hit, pinch hitter Giancarlo Stanton lined an RBI single to score Gallo and make it 5-3.
The Yankees, who blew a four-run lead in their previous meeting with Boston on July 25, nearly blew this one.
Loaisiga allowed singles to Kyle Schwarber, Christian Vazquez and Alex Verdugo to start the seventh. Pinch hitter Travis Shaw flied out for the first out, and Loaisiga struck out Enrique Hernandez after throwing three straight pitches out of the strike zone and finished off his fifth save by striking out Renfroe.
Andrew Velazquez hit a bases-loaded single in the second before the Red Sox took a 3-2 lead on a two-run single by Xander Bogaerts in the third and a homer by Vazquez in the fifth
New York left-hander Jordan Montgomery returned from the COVID-19 injured list and allowed three runs on five hits in 4 2/3 innings. He struck out six and walked two in his first start since Aug. 1.
Albert Abreu (2-0) got the final out of the fifth before Loaisiga’s high-wire act.
Boston’s Tanner Houck allowed two runs on five hits in four innings.
–Field Level Media