NEW YORK — You can call it a comeback. The Yankees, left for dead after their last meeting with the Red Sox, rallied for three runs in the fifth inning of the 7-inning game against Boston for a 5-3 win in the first game of a split doubleheader at Yankee Stadium.
Jordan Montgomery made his first start since being positive for the coronavirus on Aug. 3, Luke Voit and Bronx born and bred shortstop Andrew Velazquez each drove in two runs, and the Bombers continued their comeback from irrelevance into the mix for a playoff spot.
The Yankees, who were 10 games in back of the Red Sox on July 4, improved to a season-high 15 games over .500 and within a game of the second-place Red Sox in the American League East. More importantly, they’re just a game out of the AL Wild Card.
The Bombers have won four straight games, five of their last six and are 26-11 since the Fourth of July.
Velazquez lined a two-run single into center field in the second inning off starter Tanner Houck. Then the Yankees cashed in on the Red Sox’s bullpen struggles. Garret Whitlock, the former Yankee farmhand, issued two two-out walks and then Josh Taylor came on to walk Joey Gallo. Voit drove in two with a bases-loaded bloop single to shallow center field. They are just his 18th and 19th RBIs of the season, having missed time with knee issues and a strained oblique.
Giancarlo Stanton drove in another on a hard-hit (116 miles per hour off the bat) pinch-hit single, before former Met Hansel Robles got Boston out of the inning.
After missing 13 games after testing positive for the coronavirus, Montgomery’s day was limited. He allowed three earned runs on five hits and two walks. He struck out six over 4.2 innings pitched.
He gave up a two-run single to Xander Bogaerts in the third and then a leadoff homer to Christian Vazquez in the fifth.
Albert Abreu got the Bombers out of the fifth and Jonathan Loaisiga finished it off. The right-hander made it interesting, though, with three straight singles to start the seventh inning. He got a fly ball out of pinch-hitter Travis Shaw and Brett Gardner’s aggressive fielding held the runners. Loaisiga battled back from 3-0 on Enrique Hernandez to strike him out and finished it off with a strikeout of Hunter Renfroe.
