Yankees complete three-game sweep of Red Sox behind brilliant Andrew Heaney
Yankees starting pitcher Andrew Heaney is greeted in the dugout after the top of the seventh inning against the Red Sox in an MLB game at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Less than a month ago, the Yankees' season seemingly had bottomed out.
After blowing a four-run lead over Boston on July 25 at Fenway Park — with the Red Sox scoring all five of their runs in the eighth, an inning Domingo German entered without having allowed a hit — the Yankees were just four games over .500.
When the Red Sox won the next night, the idle Yankees fell 9 1/2 games behind them, and they didn’t look too good for one of the two American League wild-card spots, either.
Times sure have changed.
For both clubs.
On Wednesday night, the Yankees moved a game ahead of Boston — having gained 10 1/2 games in 23 days — and into the first wild-card position by completing a three-game sweep of the Red Sox with a 5-2 victory in front of 39,166 at the Stadium.
That lifted the Yankees to 18-5 and dropped the Red Sox to 8-15 since that devastating July 25 loss. "We’re a different team now," Aaron Boone said after his team's sixth straight win.
This being the 2021 Yankees, it was not easy, even as they took a 5-1 lead into the ninth.
Aroldis Chapman, activated earlier in the day from the injured list, allowed a 456-foot homer into the bleachers in left-center by Hunter Renfroe that made it 5-2 and then walked Xander Bogaerts. With two outs, J.D. Martinez lined a single to right, putting runners at the corners and bringing the tying run to the plate.
Boone, not taking any chances, called on lefthander Lucas Luetge to face righthanded-hitting Kevin Plawecki, who pulled a grounder into the hole. Third baseman Rougned Odor dived to his left and missed it, but shortstop Andrew Velazquez slid to his right behind Odor and grabbed it. He quickly got to his feet and fired a one-hop throw to Anthony Rizzo, who got low and gloved the in-between hop a split-second before Plawecki hit the bag.
A few minutes later, after the play withstood the drama of a replay challenge, the Yankees were able to celebrate.
"It’s what you dream about," said the Bronx-born Velazquez, who had a pair of RBI singles, scored a run and was awarded the championship belt presented in the clubhouse to the star of the game after each win. "Not only doing well on the field but earning the respect of the guys in the locker room."
The Yankees (69-52), who trailed the Red Sox by as many as 10 1/2 games after the games of July 5, now are a game ahead of the A's (68-53) and Red Sox (69-54), who are in a virtual tie for the second wild card. After losing their first seven games against the Red Sox this season, the Yankees have gone 6-3 against Boston. They have won 28 of their last 39 games.
The Yankees received seven brilliant innings from lefty Andrew Heaney, who was desperately in need of such an outing,
Since being obtained from the Angels via trade before the July 30 deadline, Heaney had gone 1-1 with a 9.00 ERA in three starts with the Yankees and was coming off a miserable start in last Thursday’s "Field of Dreams'' game in which he allowed seven runs in five innings in a 9-8 loss to the White Sox.
He was nothing short of terrific Wednesday, although it didn't start off that way. When Bogaerts hit an opposite-field homer into the second deck in rightfield in the first inning, Heaney had allowed nine home runs and 16 runs in 16 innings since the trade.
But that would be all the Red Sox would get against Heaney, who allowed one run, two hits and two walks in seven innings.
"I [hadn’t] really pitched well and that’s what I was brought here to do," he said. "That’s not a good feeling to feel like you’re not pulling your weight. I'm not going to sit back and relax now. I hope this is the beginning of kind of getting some things moving in the right direction."
Zack Britton, who has struggled much of the season, pitched a perfect eighth. After Velazquez made it 5-1 in the bottom of the eighth with his second RBI single of the night, Chapman came on in the non-save situation but could not finish it off. Luetge recorded his first save since Aug. 21, 2012.
The Yankees took control in the bottom of the second against righthander Nick Pivetta. Giancarlo Stanton singled, Odor walked and Gary Sanchez flared a single to right to load the bases with none out. Brett Gardner’s sacrifice fly and Velazquez’s RBI single made it 2-1.
Third baseman Rafael Devers robbed DJ LeMahieu of a hit with a diving stop in the hole, holding Sanchez at third while recording the second out, but Rizzo’s ground smash off the glove of first baseman Bobby Dalbec went for a two-run single that made it 4-1.
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
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