BOSTON — Gary Sanchez hit a tying home run with two outs in the ninth inning, DJ LeMahieu had a go-ahead double in the 12th and the New York Yankees rallied past the Boston Red Sox 6-5 Friday night for their ninth straight win.
New York improved to 8-0 over its longtime rival this season. Dating to last year, the Yankees have won 11 in a row over the Red Sox, one short of its best streak ever against them.
The victory moved the Yankees (30-21) percentage points ahead of Minnesota (31-22) for the No. 4 seed and home field in the first round of the playoffs.
The Yankees won on a night in which sluggers Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton were both in the lineup together for the first time since Aug. 8 after recently returning from stints on the injured list.
Jonathan Loaisiga (3-0) pitched three scoreless innings to get the victory. Ryan Weber (1-3) took the loss.
Boston led 4-3 with two outs in the ninth when Sanchez, who’s shown recent signs of breaking out of a season-long slump, tied it with a line drive home run off Matt Barnes that just made it over the top of the Green Monster.
Sanchez hit a two-run double in the seventh that cut Boston’s lead to 4-2.
Luke Voit hit an RBI single in the 11th for the Yankees. Boston tied it in its half of the inning, thanks to a wild pitch by Loaisiga and an RBI single by Christian Arroyo, who also had a three-run homer.
LeMahieu doubled with two outs in the 12th.
Boston’s Martín Pérez pitched six scoreless innings, allowing just three hits and a walk while striking out seven. But Red Sox relievers allowed five hits and four runs over the next three innings.
This was Judge’s second game back since reaggravating a strained right calf on Aug. 26. Stanton was activated Tuesday after going on the injured list Aug. 9 because of a left hamstring strain.
Both were quiet until the eighth inning, when Judge got aboard with a one-out single. Stanton then lined a double into the left-field corner, scoring Judge from first to cut Boston’s lead to 4-3.
Judge and Stanton went a combined 2 of 9, striking out three times.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Yankees: Manager Aaron Boone said the team will be careful with Judge and Stanton’s workload as they gear up for the postseason. He said Stanton will likely have Saturday off after playing two straight games. Judge will probably rest in the series finale on Sunday.
Red Sox: Right fielder Alex Verdugo left the game in the third inning because of left hamstring tightness after injuring himself while running the bases.
RED SOX CUT STAFF
The Red Sox have laid off 10% of their full-time employees as a result of the pandemic.
The Boston Globe reported Friday that about 40 workers on the business side were let go. Earlier this month, the team told nine baseball operations employees in player development, amateur scouting and pro scouting that their contracts would not be renewed.
Red Sox President and CEO Sam Kennedy told the Globe that the staff reductions were due to what he called “the profound impact of this ongoing pandemic.”
He said the team has set up assistance measures, including severance pay, health care, and outplacement support, to help those laid off find new jobs.
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