Clint Frazier connects for a three-run homer in the sixth inning Saturday night – part of a five-RBI game for Frazier in the Yankees’ 11-5 win over the Red Sox. Frank Franklin II/Associated Press
NEW YORK — The next-man-up New York Yankees are at it again.
Clint Frazier homered, drove in five runs and made a diving catch filling in for injured right fielder Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez homered in his third straight game, and New York overcame an injury to AL batting leader DJ LeMahieu as it beat the Boston Red Sox 11-5 Saturday night.
Frazier had three hits, including a three-run drive, and matched a career high in RBI. Gio Urshela also homered for the Yankees, and Tyler Wade delivered an RBI double after replacing LeMahieu, who left in the sixth inning because of a sprained left thumb and could be headed for the injured list.
New York has beaten Boston in eight straight meetings, its longest winning streak in the rivalry since 1985. The Yankees improved to 14-6 in this pandemic-shortened season – the franchise’s best 20-game start since going 17-3 in 2003 – despite losing Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Aroldis Chapman and now LeMahieu to injury or illness.
“As always, the expectations in that room never change despite what happens,” Manager Aaron Boone said.
Xander Bogaerts and Alex Verdugo homered, and struggling sluggers Rafael Devers and J.D. Martinez had two hits each, but Boston dropped to 6-15. The Red Sox have lost six in a row and set a franchise record by allowing at least eight runs for the sixth straight game.
Red Sox starter Nathan Eovaldi (1-2) allowed three homers and eight runs in 5 1/3 innings.
“We just need to start playing good baseball,” Manager Ron Roenicke said. “Then I think we’ll win. We’re not playing good baseball. We’re lacking in something it seems every day.”
Yankees starter James Paxton (1-1) allowed three runs in five innings.
LeMahieu, hitting .411 atop the Yankees’ lineup, was pulled in the sixth inning after an awkward strikeout against Eovaldi in the fourth.
X-rays were negative, but the Yankees sent LeMahieu to the hospital for an MRI and CT scan. LeMahieu broke the same thumb in 2018 with Colorado. He told Boone this injury felt similar.
“He was pretty sore,” Boone said. “We’ll just have to see what comes back from that.”
Frazier and Wade again showed off the depth of a club that won the AL East in 2019 despite placing a record 30 players on the injured list.
Frazier is 7 for 11 with two home runs in three games since being recalled from the club’s alternate site this week.
“It’s a good feeling, you know, because trying to play the position of Aaron Judge is not easy,” Frazier said. “I knew that last year whenever I was playing right field, none of those fans that bought season tickets came to the game to see me play. They came to see him.”
He went the other way to right field for his homer off Eovaldi in the sixth and added a bases-loaded single in the seventh to drive in two more.
Criticized in the past for defensive acumen and effort, Frazier helped Paxton strand two baserunners in the first inning when he laid out to catch Bogaerts’ sharp line drive in right-center.
“I obviously had a few mishaps last year, but I had a long offseason and a long coronavirus offseason as well to make up for some stuff that happened last year,” Frazier said. “I never really looked at myself as a bad outfielder. I just had a couple bad plays.”
He did it all from behind a pinstripe face covering he’s wearing this season as a COVID-19 precaution.
Sanchez lofted a two-run homer in the fourth that put New York ahead 4-3. He started the season on a 4-for-43 slide with one homer before this three-day power surge.
NOTES
Roenicke is hoping to right Boston’s struggling pitching staff by introducing some stability, setting his rotation for the next four games after spending the first quarter of the season trying to piece things together. Right-hander Chris Mazza will pitch Sunday and left-hander Martín Pérez will pitch on Monday to close out the series against the Yankees. Right-hander Zack Godley will then pitch Tuesday against Philadelphia, followed by rookie left-hander Kyle Hart on Wednesday.
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