Justin Turner had four RBI, including the game winning double in the ninth inning on Sunday afternoon propelling the Boston Red Sox to a three game sweep of the New Yankees with a 6-5 victory at Yankee Stadium.
Rafael Devers got Boston (66-58) off to a quick start with a solo homerun with one out in the first inning off New York starter Clarke Schmidt into the second deck in leftfield. Kyle Higashioka would tie it for the Yankees with a solo homer to center with one out in the third. The teams traded a run in the sixth inning. Devers led off the top half with a double and would score on a force groundout by Masataka Yoshida, while Gleyber Torres hit a two-out solo homerun in the last half to tie it again for the home team. In the seventh, the Sox took a three run lead. Reese McGuire led off with a walk, and after Pablo Reyes laid down a sacrifice bunt, New York decided to walk Devers intentionally. That backfired immediately when Turner took the first pitch from reliever Michael King over the fence in left centerfield for a three-run homer and a 5-2 advantage. John Schreiber would enter the game in the bottom of the seventh, replacing Nick Pivetta who worked in long relief of the opener Josh Winckowski who went just 1.0 inning. Shreiber would allow an infield single to Harrison Bader leading off and then walked Billy McKinney. Anthony Volpe then came to bat and made it a 5-5 game by taking a 1-0 pitch from Schreiber into the seats in right center for a three-run homer. The Yankees in the eighth had what they thought was the go-ahead run. With two outs and Isiah Kiner-Falefa at first base, Volpe singled to left. The ball was fielded cleanly by Rob Refsnyder, but he stumbled and fell backwards and Kiner-Falefa would round third and attempt to score. Refsnyder threw to the cut off man Trevor Story, who turned and fired a bullet to Connor Wong at home plate. The original call was safe, but after a lengthy challenge by the Red Sox Kiner-Falefa was called out. Against Clay Holmes in the top of the ninth inning, Reyes led off with a single and Alex Verdugo worked a walk. After Devers grounded into a force out to put runners at first and third, Turner finished off his big afternoon with a double down the rightfield line to give his team back a one run lead. Kenley Jansen came on in the bottom half to try to pick up the save, and allowed a leadoff double to Greg Allen and then hit DJ LeMahieu with a pitch. Jansen was able to help finish off the sweep though when he struckout Aaron Judge looking, struckout out Torres swinging, and then got Ben Rortvedt to flyout to Adam Duvall in center to end it.
Chris Martin (4-1) picked up the win for Boston out of the bullpen, and Jansen got his 29th save. Pivetta was solid as the bulk reliever going 5.0 innings allowing two runs on three hits with one walk and eight strikeouts. Devers had three hits, while Turner and Reyes had two a piece. Torres and Volpe each had two hits in the loss for last place New York, and Holmes (4-4) was tagged with the defeat on the mound. The Yankees (60-64) have now lost eight games in a row for the first time since 1995, and have lost eight of nine against the Red Sox this season. Boston begins a big four game series in Houston on Monday night at 8:10 against the Astros. Lefthander James Paxton (7-3, 3.34 ERA) takes the ball in the opener, to be opposed by righty Cristian Javier (8-2, 4.49) for Houston. The Sox begin Monday three games behind Seattle for the third and final American League wildcard playoff spot, but only 3.5 behind the Astros for the second spot.
Story by Chris Lessner
