Yankees Handle Business With Red Sox

Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports

BRONX, NY — If the Yankees match up with the Red Sox in the American League Wild Card best of three series and there is a tiebreaker involved that decides home field advantage, Sunday afternoon’s five run fifth inning in the Bronx will be remembered.

A dominating finale of a four-game series win for the Yankees, 16-1, thus taking three-of-four. More importantly, winning the season series, 7-6, assures the Yankees own the tiebreaker to determine home field advantage if they were to renew their rivalry in the postseason. 

Recall last October, they met in the Wild Card. The Yankees had the home field advantage, won the winner take all Game 3 and advanced to the ALDS.

In Sunday’s fifth inning, Red Sox outfielder Ceddanne Rafaela made a diving attempt on a Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit that was ruled a trap. Chisholm knew it was a single, but Rafaela and Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy saw it differently.

It ultimately led to a big inning, tacking on five runs and plenty of it after (11)—one each in the sixth and seventh and then nine in the eighth, a season-high (16).

It’s been a resurgent Yankees offense that woke up this series. 19 runs scored in consecutive wins over Boston. Up-and-down the lineup, a resurged one-nine on solid at-bats, situational hitting, and as usual in the Bronx, the HR ball.

Five home runs Sunday and two from Austin Wells that each were hit in the eighth inning, becoming the sixth Yankee in franchise history to go in the record books with two HRs in the same inning.

Puerto Rican Heliot Ramos, a trade acquisition who has found his swing, got hold of a Ranger Suárez curveball in the fifth with two on—his first as a Yankee in that wicked inning. They say hitting is contagious, the Yankees (78-59) certainly hope this continues during their final stretch of 25 games as they now have a four game lead over the Red Sox (74-63) for that top AL Wild Card spot.

Regardless of where the Yankees go from here, Anaheim next, and that also applies to the Red Sox, back up to Boston, the four games this weekend were significant.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone said all along his team was seeing better at-bats. The starting pitching continued to allow two-earned runs or fewer (15 of their last 17 starts) and an overworked bullpen remained the top in the sport (MLB-best ERA of 2.62).

And don’t count out those Red Sox, they are contenders. Losing this series does not define falling short of a second consecutive postseason appearance. The Yankees probably as it stands will be their first task, so basically the rivalry that resumed this weekend will continue in five weeks.

“It’s about to be September, let’s go get it,” said Boone. “Let’s go play our best baseball at the right time.”

It’s now. Winning 10 of their last 14 games, three more games remain at home against the division leading Rays—a distance of 4-½ games separates the two teams. That series at Yankee Stadium next month, assuming Tampa Bay doesn’t widen their lead, could be more significant than this series with Boston.

The Yankees are loose and having fun again. It was apparent in their dugout after that five-run fifth, eight-run eighth and postgame in the home clubhouse.

The tempo in that room Saturday afternoon was silenced following a 6-0 loss in the day portion of a split doubleheader where the Yankees won the night cap, 9-2.

“I do feel like we’re playing well and we’re going to have reinforcements continue to trickle in this coming month,” Boone said referring to expansion of rosters, pitcher Clarke Schmidt’s return from Tommy John surgery, and Ryan McMahon soon to command third base. 

And the imminent return of captain Aaron Judge who has missed a major portion of the season with a stress fracture to his right rib.

“It really feels good to produce for this team,” Ramos said. “To be a part of this team and get things done.”

It was no different on Boston’s side, still feeling confident after losing six of their seven games with the Yankees. However the visiting clubhouse was silent, now looking towards their final stretch in September.

A historic 15-game winning streak turned around a horrid start to their season though the wins now are not coming as rapidly as they once were.

Nick Sogard drove in the only run with an RBI single in the eighth inning, finishing off a 3-4 road trip. Losing three-of-four to the Yankees was a step back yet moving along is young sensation Roman Anthony and veteran shortstop Trevor Story who each returned to the lineup Sunday after extensive time on the injured list. They avoided being shut out for the third time in their last five games and also have 25 games remaining on the schedule.

Like those in pinstripes, the Red Sox knew the significance of this series, a rivalry that was played in front of over 150,00 fans in the Bronx across all four games. A good contingent of their fans made the trip and could be heard along the third base side.

“I think it’s tough to lose any of them but obviously everybody’s aware of that piece of it,” Tracy said. “That being said I’ve been pretty steadfast when I always say my mind is going to be to shift over to Seattle and get ready for a game because we’re playing again tomorrow. So we’ve just got to keep going.”

He said his team is going through a tough time and expects to get that winning vibe back soon. Meanwhile the Yankees, winning and hitting with consistency, have returned.

A series that wasn’t defining but cleared some speculation somewhat going down the stretch.

Rich Mancuso is a senior writer and columnist at LatinoSports.com with coverage of MLB, boxing, and MLS – X:@Ring786, Facebook.com/Rich Mancuso

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