Luke Voit homers twice as Yankees sweep away Red Sox

And then there are the times when these things play out exactly how you expect them to.

Monday night – the entire weekend, really – showed that, indeed, sometimes you can predict baseball.

The Yankees delivered a resounding answer to the question of what happens when a team with Triple-A- caliber pitching meets a loaded offense, even one that keeps losing big bats.

Hitting four more home runs – two by Luke Voit – the Yankees completed a four-game sweep of the Red Sox on Monday with 6-3 victory at the Stadium, a game that included a 1- hour, 23-minute rain delay.

“We did a lot of things well, certainly in this series, but since we’ve come home,” Aaron Boone said.

The victory moved the Yankees (16-6), winners of six straight, 2 ½ games ahead of the Rays, a team with whom they have shared some bad blood in recent years and who start a three-game series at the Stadium on Tuesday night.

Monday’s win further plummeted the pitching-deficient Red Sox (6-17) into the AL East cellar and continued their embarrassment the last couple of years at the Stadium. Since going 2-0 at the Stadium in closing out the 2018 ALDS, the Red Sox are 1-15 in the Bronx, 0-11 in their last 11 games. The Yankees have won 10 straight against Boston, their longest winning streak against their rival since winning a franchise record-tying 12 straight from Aug. 16, 1952-April 23, 1953.

“Obviously, that’s unique in the history of this rivalry,” Boone said. “I just think it’s a [case] where we’ve had a few really good series against them and they’ve had some things not go their way. I don’t put too much into it.”

The Red Sox have been outscored 143-98 in total this season, 50-23 by the Yankees.

Thairo Estrada, one of a handful of players last season who produced immediately upon called up from the minors when the Yankees were in the midst of putting a record 30 players on the injured list, also homered Monday, as did Aaron Hicks.

“We’re so deep, it’s incredible,” Voit said. “I’ve never been on a team that has this much depth.”

The rain, which arrived with two outs and two on in the fourth inning, cost Jordan Montgomery a chance at a victory as lefthander Luis Avilan replaced him after the delay.

With the Yankees ahead 3-1, Avilan walked Michael Chavis to load the bases for Alex Verdugo, 5-for-13 with two homers to that point in the series. Avilan struck out the rookie on four pitches to end the threat and pitched a scoreless 1 1/3 innings.

Rookie righty Mike King added three scoreless innings in the best outing of his season. Aroldis Chapman, making his season debut after testing positive for COVID-19 early in camp, allowed a run in the ninth to make it 6-3.

Montgomery allowed one run and three hits in 3 2/3 innings. The lefthander, throwing an especially sharp curveball, struck out four and did not walk a batter. Boston lefthander Martin Perez allowed three runs, two hits and three walks in three innings.

After Miguel Andujar, called up earlier in the day, flied to the wall in left to leave the bases loaded in the bottom of the first, the Yankees gave Montgomery the lead in the second.

Perez hit Tyler Wade with a pitch with two outs and Hicks followed by driving an RBI double into the gap in right-center for a 1-0 lead, making it 17 straight games in which the leadoff man reached base. Voit, in an 8-for-23 stretch coming in, followed by hammering a 2-and-2 off-speed pitch to center for his sixth homer and a 3-0 lead.

Montgomery retired the first two batters of the fourth before J.D. Martinez smoked a single to left, Boston’s first hit of the night and the first of three straight that inning that cut the Red Sox deficit to 3-1.  

As Michael Chavis stepped in, umpires called for the tarp as rain moved into the Bronx. Play resumed at 9:33 p.m. with Avilan taking over for Montgomery.

It stayed 3-1 until the bottom of the fourth when Estrada, called up Friday when Aaron Judge landed on the injured list, led off by crushing lefty Josh Osich’s 1-and-1 cutter to left to make it 4-1. Voit’s shot off Osich to start the fifth made it 5-1.