Yankees sweep Red Sox to move a percentage point ahead of Boston for wild-card spot
Giancarlo Stanton of the Yankees celebrates with teammate Rougned Odor after hitting a fourth-inning home run against the Red Sox in the second game of a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Yankees still are just 5-10 against the Red Sox this season.
But after sweeping Boston in a split doubleheader at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, the Yankees finally are looking down — not up — at their historic rivals in the standings.
And the Yankees are in position for a playoff berth.
With a 5-3 victory in Game 1 and a 2-0 win in Game 2, the Yankees moved into a tie with the A’s for the AL’s two wild-card spots. Both teams are 68-52, which is a .567 winning percentage.
The Red Sox are one percentage point back at 69-53 (.566), which is out of the playoffs if the season ended today.
It doesn’t. Still, after the games of July 5, the Yankees were 10½ games behind Boston.
Next stop, playoffs? Not so fast. But what the Yankees have done since then is remarkable. They’ve gone 26-11, while the Red Sox have gone 15-21.
The Yankees still were 9 1/2 games behind the Red Sox after the games of July 26, but it took them only 22 more days to catch them.
"We’ve climbed back in, but we’ve got a long way to go," manager Aaron Boone said. "We are focused on the task. We are focused on the daily grind. I like where our club’s at and feel like we’re playing with a lot of confidence and playing well. But we ain’t done."
In the opener, Luke Voit had a go-ahead two-run single in the fifth and Jonathan Loaisiga worked out of a bases-loaded, none-out jam in the seventh and final inning.
In the nightcap, rookie Luis Gil did not allow a run for the third consecutive start to open his career, winning pitcher Wandy Peralta got the big outs in relief, and Voit and Giancarlo Stanton homered as the Yankees won their fifth in a row.
In Game 1, Loaisiga — pitching his second inning — earned his fifth save with possibly the best escape act of his career.
After the Red Sox loaded the bases on three singles, Loaisiga got Travis Shaw to fly out to short left for the first out.
He fell behind Kike Hernandez 3-and-0 before coming back to strike out Boston’s leadoff man for out No. 2. Next was Hunter Renfroe, and Loaisiga struck him out on his 34th pitch to end it.
It was a 100-mph fastball.
"Lo was great," Boone said. "He didn't flinch. He didn't. I mean, you can just see his confidence out there. Like, ‘I got this.’ He was able to execute and wiggle out of it. Just a great job."
The first game was a makeup from July 15, when the Yankees returned from the All-Star break with a COVID outbreak.
Trailing 3-2, the Yankees batted around in the fifth and scored three runs.
With the bases loaded on three walks, Voit hit a broken-bat blooper to center for a two-run single. Stanton followed with a pinch-hit, 116.3-mph RBI single to center to give the Yankees a 5-3 advantage.
Jordan Montgomery started for the Yankees and allowed three runs in 4 2/3 innings in his first outing after being activated off the COVID IL.
Gil made his third big-league start in the nightcap and threw 4 2/3 scoreless innings. In his brief career, the 23-year-old righthander has not allowed a run in 15 2/3 innings.
Gil, who was called up to serve as the 27th man for the doubleheader, was sent back to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after Game 2. He has been sent down after each of his starts.
Voit homered to right in the second and Stanton went very deep to left-center (441 feet) in the fourth. Both home runs came off former Yankee Nathan Eovaldi.
Gill departed with the bases loaded and two outs in the fifth. Peralta (4-2) got out of the jam by getting Rafael Devers to ground into a forceout.
Peralta worked out of a two-on, two-out spot in the sixth by knocking down a line drive hit by Bobby Dalbec, scrambling toward the third-base line to pick it up and firing off-balance to first for the out.
"You know he ain’t afraid of a big moment, either, a big spot," Boone said. "He wants the ball and he did a great job for us tonight and set us up big time."
Chad Green closed it out in the seventh for his fifth save.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
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