September 13 – Rather than rely on a recently stellar offense, the New York Yankees did just enough to win and extend their lead in the American League East.
The Yankees are looking for their third consecutive win Friday night at home against the Boston Red Sox after singles by Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Juan Soto ended the game.
The Yankees (85-62) are 5-2 in their last seven games at the plate after losing six of their last nine games against the Texas Rangers, St. Louis Cardinals and Washington Nationals. Four of those wins were by three runs or fewer, and the Yankees scored more than four runs only once in those games.
Chisholm had the game-winning single in the 11th inning of a 4-3 win over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday, and Soto hit a home run in the 10th inning on Thursday to give the Yankees a 2-1 win over the Red Sox. The Yankees hold a two-game lead over the Baltimore Orioles in the AL East, their largest lead since clinching the division lead on Aug. 21.
“The guys played really well,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “The last couple of nights we haven’t had a lot of offense, but we did enough. I thought we made some good shots tonight.”
The Yankees won their last two games despite being 2 for 9 despite having runners in scoring position and trailing by as many as 17 runs. .
New York won despite Aaron Judge hitting only 51 home runs. Since hitting two home runs against the Colorado Rockies on August 25, Judge has gone 16 consecutive games without a home run, posting a career-high batting average of .207 (12 for 58).
Boston (74-73) has lost three games in a row to New York and is 4 1/2 games behind the Minnesota Twins for the third and final AL wild card.
Danny Jansen hit a tying homer in the fifth inning, but the Red Sox allowed only four hits and struck out 14 times. The Red Sox have faltered in at least 50 of their last four games and in 10 of their 14 games since August 18.
Rafael Devers went 0-for-4 on Thursday with a strikeout and no home runs in 14 games. Since his last home run on Aug. 25, Devers is 9 for 54 (.167)
“I’m not experiencing my best moments right now, but that’s part of baseball,” Devers said through a translator. “Sometimes you go through periods and that’s what’s happening to me right now. I’m not perfect and that’s baseball.”
New York’s Clarke Schmidt (5-3, 2.34 ERA) will make his second start since returning from a long-term injury. Schmidt missed 86 games because of a strained right lat muscle and threw 4 2/3, four-hit innings in Saturday’s 2-0 victory over the host Chicago Cubs, his third start of the season.
Schmidt is 0-1 with a 4.23 ERA in eight career appearances against the Red Sox (four starts). He last faced them in a tiebreaker game at Boston on Sept. 14 of last season, giving up four runs (3 ERA) on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings.
Tanner Houck (8-10, 3.24) missed his last scheduled start on Sunday because of shoulder soreness and will return in an 8-3 loss to Team USA on Sept. 4 in his first appearance after allowing 4 runs on 5 hits.
Houck is 0-4 with a 4.78 ERA in nine games since the All-Star break, and he faced the Oakland Athletics in his final game before the All-Star break on July 11. He allowed two hits in six innings.
In 14 career games against the Yankees (nine starts), Hoak has a 3–3 record and a 2.38 ERA.
–Visual-level media
