NEW YORK — When the Yankees last saw the Red Sox, they were heading in different directions. Tuesday, the new-look Yankees, with a balanced lineup and a confidence in comebacks, caught up with Boston and continued to climb back into the playoff race.
Sweeping the split doubleheader with a 2-0 win in the nightcap at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees evened up with the team that had tortured them in the first half of the season.
After making trades to balance their right-handed heavy lineup with Joey Gallo and Anthony Rizzo (who has been out since Aug. 8 with COVID-19), shoring up the bullpen at the deadline with Joely Rodriguez and Clay Holmes (also on the COVID-19 IL) and getting some help from the minors in surprising starter Luis Gil, the Yankees are tied with the Red Sox and both are 4.5 games back of the division-leading Rays in the American League East. After leaving Boston nine games back on July 25, they are now percentage points ahead of them in the standings for the second AL Wild Card.
The Yankees (68-52), who won the afternoon game 5-3, have won five straight games and seven of their last 10 games. Since that last game in Fenway, the Bombers have gone 17-5. They are a season-high 16-games above .500.
In the nightcap Tuesday, the Yankees did it with power against Red Sox righty Nathan Eovaldi.
Luke Voit, who drove in two in the first game, homered in the second. It was his sixth home run of the season and just his 20th RBI after missing most of the season with knee and oblique injuries. He had three RBI on the day.
Giancarlo Stanton hit his 19th homer run of the season in the fourth inning of the second game, a 441-foot bomb over the visitors’ bullpen in left field. Stanton drove in two runs in the two games.
Gil, who was called up for an emergency start when Gerrit Cole went on the COVID-19 injury list Aug. 3, continued to impress. He had to work harder than his first two big league starts, but Gill got through 4.2 innings unscored upon and his ERA remained at 0.00. He worked around three hits — two in the fifth when Aaron Boone was forced to come out and get him ― and four walks. He struck out four.
That’s 15.2 scoreless innings to start his career, the longest such stretch by a Yankee in the Modern Era, surpassing Joba Chamberlain’s 15.1 innings.
Gil worked himself into a jam in the fifth. He gave up a leadoff single to Jarren Duran and a one-out single to Enrique Hernandez. With two on and two out, Gill walked Xander Bogaerts to load the bases and Aaron Boone went out to get him.
Wandy Peralta got Rafael Devers to ground out to end the inning and protect the two-run lead.
These are only the Yankees’ fourth and fifth wins of the season against the Red Sox (69-53), who lead the season series 10-5. But the feeling around both teams seems to have done a dramatic role reversal since they last met. Boston is 12-10 in the 22 games since that series.
And the vibe around the Yankees is different now.
“The energy in there’s great, the energy on the field is incredible, too,” Yankees fill-in shortstop Andrew Velazquez said. “I got chills out there a few times. We’re showing up and I feel the vibe like we expect to win every day. So the boys are battling.
“It’s beautiful.”
The Bronx-born and bred Velazquez drove in two of the Yankees’ runs for his first career multi-RBI game in the first game. Voit, whose role is uncertain once Anthony Rizzo comes off the COVID-19 IL in the next few days, reached base three times, including a bloop single that drove in two runs. Voit has always been a gamer against the Red Sox, hitting .353 with 11 home runs and 24 RBI in 36 career games against them.
Jordan Montgomery made his first start since testing positive for COVID-19 on Aug. 3,
Each helped the Yankees continue to battle back into the race for a playoff spot.
