BOSTON _ CC Sabathia gave the Yankees what the desperately needed.
And set his team up for what late Friday night seemed a near impossibility: a chance to take three of four from the AL East-leading Red Sox.
Consistently finding trouble but just as consistently pulling himself out it, Sabathia pitched six shutout innings as the Yankees beat the Red Sox, 3-0, Sunday afternoon in the first game of a day/night doubleheader at Fenway Park.
The Yankees (47-42), who prevailed in 16 innings Saturday night _ an impressive victory after taking a walk-off loss Friday night in the series opener _ send Masahiro Tanaka to the mound Sunday night.
The Yankees won two straight games for the first time since June 11-12.
They had 12 hits, getting two each from Chase Headley, Didi Gregorius, Clint Frazier and Ji-Man Choi. Gregorius' 11th homer of the season, a solo shot in the fifth off Rick Porcello (4-12) made it 3-0.
Frazier reached on an error in the fifth, leading to two unearned runs that gave the Yankees the lead for good. Choi's sacrifice fly made it 1-0 and Ronald Torreyes' RBI single made it 2-0.
Sabathia, initially slated to start Monday night in Minnesota but told late Saturday he would take the ball in place of Bryan Mitchell, battled control issues all afternoon, walking five. The veteran, however, allowed just two hits and struck out three in keeping the Red Sox off the board and improving to 8-3 with a 3.54 ERA.
"We had told him yesterday there was a good chance he was going start on Sunday," Joe Girardi said Sunday morning. "It allows me to use the whole roster."
Meaning, Girardi felt the 36-year-old Sabathia had a better chance of giving his club six-plus innings than Mitchell.
The manager, whose desire was to stay away from Dellin Betances, Aroldis Chapman, whom he ended up using, and Adam Warren, was right.
Girardi went to Tyler Clippard in the seventh and the right-hander, only back in that role because of others who were unavailable, provided a shutout inning after allowing a leadoff infield single to pinch hitter Brock Holt.
Chad Green walked two with two outs in the eighth but struck out Jackie Bradley Jr. swinging at a slider.
Chapman, who blew the save Friday night in a 5-4 loss, allowed a hit and struck out one in a scoreless ninth for his ninth save.
Sabathia worked out of a jam in the first. He walked the first two batter he faced, Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts, but got Andrew Benintendi to ground into a 6-4 force play, then induced a routine grounder off the bat of Chris Young that resulted in a 4-3 double play. That dropped the Red Sox to 2-for-42 this season with RISP against the Yankees, a number that would get worse as the afternoon progressed.
The Red Sox would end up 0-for-11 in the game in such situations and they stranded nine.
