NEW YORK _ There was a feeling Saturday night that if the regular season didn't end on Sept. 30, these two teams could just go ahead and do this forever. The mighty Yankees lineup, behind the ageless CC Sabathia, crushing the Red Sox the way they did on Friday night. The formidable Red Sox, led by the electric Chris Sale, vanquishing the Yankees with ease, as they did a night later.
Over and over, until everyone retires or dies.
That's how close the American League East is right now, with these two teams trading spots atop the division and trading off for the best record in the major leagues. As could have been expected, on Saturday, it was the Red Sox's turn to victimize a starting pitcher _ this time, Sonny Gray. In a mirror image of the Yankees' Friday domination, the Red Sox outhit the Yankees 17-2 in an 11-0 victory at Yankee Stadium.
Gray, who struggled against the Red Sox earlier in the year, picked up right where he left off with them. He lasted only 21/3 innings and allowed six runs, seven hits and two walks.
"I feel like we're the best team in baseball four out of five days, and then I come out there," he said. "I've been bad against multiple teams. That was embarrassing for me."
Sale (8-4, 2.41 ERA) allowed one hit in seven innings, striking out 11 and walking one, and Rafael Devers went 5-for-5 with four RBIs on a first-inning grand slam. J.D. Martinez added three hits and three RBIs.
Giancarlo Stanton singled in the first inning and Gleyber Torres singled in the ninth for the Yankees' only hits. They didn't get a runner in scoring position after the second inning.
Gray secured the first two outs quickly before allowing an infield hit by Martinez that kept the inning alive. Mitch Moreland walked and Xander Bogaerts singled to right before Gray served up a hanging curveball to Devers, who blasted an opposite-field grand slam to left field. Gray got the next batter, Eduardo Nunez, to ground out and then walked off the mound to cascading boos.
Gray had two strikes on Martinez, Moreland and Devers before losing all three. He got ahead of Martinez and Devers 1-and-2.
Gray allowed a leadoff single in the second by Sandy Leon, who scored on Andrew Benintendi's single, and a walk to Mookie Betts, who scored on Martinez's sacrifice fly for a 6-0 lead. Back-to-back singles to lead off the third and a forceout ended his night, but Adam Warren pitched out of the jam.
Gray has allowed 12 runs in two outings against the Red Sox; his last time out against them, on April 12, he also allowed six runs and seven hits in three innings. He has an 8.25 ERA at Yankee Stadium this season. Above all, it tempers some of the recent enthusiasm around him: After a rough start, he seemed to be trending up in this last month, pitching at least five innings in his previous five starts.
"The start he had against them in Boston, I just don't think he was in a good place throwing the ball," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said before the game. "I think he's a much different guy right now than he was in early April coupled with that being a really good offense and if you're not on top of your game, they're obviously a team that can make you pay. But I feel he's much more equipped to be successful against them tonight and bottom line, if he goes out and throws the ball in the way he's capable of, he'll give us a chance to win."
Warren, meanwhile, came in to give the performance that Gray couldn't: He pitched 22/3 innings of scoreless relief, allowing two hits with no walks and four strikeouts. Warren hasn't allowed an earned run in his last nine appearances dating to April 20, the day before he landed on the disabled list.
The Red Sox scored a run in the sixth on Martinez's RBI single off Giovanny Gallegos and two more in the seventh on Leon's homer off Gallegos. Martinez added an RBI single in the eighth and Brock Holt had an RBI single in the ninth.
