NEW YORK _ Cheers for Miguel Andujar's towering, two-run homer still echoed around Yankee Stadium when Greg Bird followed up with a solo shot.
By hitting back-to-back home runs in a four-run fourth inning, the Yankees flaunted their signature team strength _ taking control against the Red Sox as the rivalry resumed on Friday night.
And CC Sabathia took it from there.
Inducing soft contact and keeping the likes of J.D. Martinez in check, Sabathia tossed seven strong innings, guiding the Yankees to an 8-1 win.
Aaron Judge added a two-run, opposite-field blast in the seventh _ his 21st home run of the year _ which only added to the party atmosphere for the fans.
Bird homered again in the eighth, his best signs yet of moving from a slump that has gripped virtually all season.
After a strikeout in his first at-bat Friday, Bird was in a 1-for-18 skid and 7-for-56.
So, the Yankees (53-26) have pulled even with the Red Sox (55-28) atop the AL East, though the standings remain lopsided; Boston has played four more games than the Yanks, a team that has had more than its share of rainouts this season.
Batting Nos. 5 and 6 in manager Aaron Boone's batting order, rookies Gleyber Torres and Andujar made their presence known early against Boston lefty Eduardo Rodriguez.
To start the second inning, Torres tripled over the head of standout center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr., and scored on Andujar's bloop single between a triangle of Red Sox in shallow center.
The Yankees opened the fourth with runners at second and third, as Giancarlo Stanton walked and Didi Gregorius doubled to right-center.
After Torres followed with a sacrifice fly, Andujar took a huge hack of a pitch that landed in the lower left-field seats _ his 12th home run of the year.
The lefty-hitting Bird hadn't homered since June 13, but he took Rodriguez deep the opposite way for his fourth homer of the season, giving the Yanks a 5-0 lead.
Judge went deep off reliever Justin Haley, who also surrendered Bird's second homer on a hanging, 3-and-2 breaking pitch.
Since the start of 2017, Sabathia is now 12-0 with a 2.47 ERA in 17 starts immediately following a Yankees loss.
Sabathia (5-3) shrugged off a leadoff double in the second by Boston's newly-acquired right-handed hitter, the veteran Steve Pearce.
And Martinez was 0-for-3 against Sabathia, who got him to fly out with runners at first and second to end the third.
After consecutive two-out doubles by Mookie Betts and Andrew Benintendi (RBI), Sabathia got Martinez to fly out to end the fifth.
In all, Sabathia yielded just one run on six hits and a walk, with five strikeouts in a 97-pitch performance.
Rodriguez (9-3) was charged with five runs in six innings.
Against the lefty Rodriguez, Boone elected to bat Aaron Hicks in the leadoff spot with Brett Gardner batting ninth.
It was the first time all year that Gardner had batted anywhere but leadoff (60 games).
But with the Red Sox set to start two more lefties in this series _ Chris Sale and David Price _ Boone wants Gardner to be a lineup presence in at least two of these three important games.
One of Boone's plans during spring training was to have Gardner bat ninth occasionally against left-handed pitching.
Plus, Hicks entered the game batting .291 in 22 games this month, with six home runs.
.png?w=600)
