The New York Yankees can’t stop the Boston Red Sox.
The Red Sox dominated the Yankees on Saturday afternoon, crushing them 12-1 at Yankee Stadium. Garrett Crochet racked up 11 strikeouts (including the 500th of his career) over seven innings of one-run ball, while Boston’s bats pounded out 17 hits following Friday’s tense 1-0 victory.
With their third win in as many days, the Red Sox clinched the series win over New York. They’ve now won eight straight games against their archrivals dating back to June (including five straight at Yankee Stadium), tying their longest single-season winning streak against the Yankees during the Wild Card Era (since 1994).
That matches Boston’s eight-game winning streak against New York in 2009, back when David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez ruled the rivalry.
The Red Sox are 8-1 with a plus-23 run differential against the Yankees this season, clinching the season series (and a potential playoff tiebreaker if needed) on Friday.
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While there’s still one game to go, this weekend’s series has been a disaster for New York. The Yankees have been outscored 19-4 and have more errors (five) than runs (four) during the series.
They’ve lost three games in the standings as a result, going from a 1.5-game lead over Boston for the top American League wild card spot to a 1.5-game deficit. So much for their momentum coming into the series.
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The Red Sox will go for the sweep on Sunday Night Baseball behind Dustin May (7-9, 4.59 ERA), who gets his first taste of the rivalry after joining them at the MLB Trade Deadline. He’ll face Carlos Rodón (13-7, 3.24 ERA), who will try to stop the bleeding and salvage the series finale for New York.
Based on how this weekend has gone for the Yankees, they can’t afford another loss. If they win, it will be their first victory against Boston since June 6.
