Friday night: Gleyber Torres led off the bottom of the 2nd inning with a triple, and is singled home by Miguel Andujar. Giancarlo Stanton leads off the 4th with a walk. Didi Gregorius doubles. Torres hits a line drive to left, and it's deep enough to score Stanton. Then back-to-back home runs by Andujar and Greg Bird. Yankees 5, Scum 0.
The Sox get a run back in the 5th, but the 7th featured a single by Aaron Hicks and a home run by Aaron Judge. Bird added another home run in the 8th.
CC Sabathia was a beast again. He knows how much New York vs. Boston means. He went 7 innings, allowing 1 run on 6 hits and just 1 walk, striking out 5. Chad Green pitched a perfect inning. So did the much-maligned Chasen Shreve: Even he couldn't blow a 7-run lead.
Yankees 8, Red Sox 1. WP: Sabathia (5-3). No save. LP: Eduardo Rodriguez (9-3).
*
As good as Friday night was, Saturday night was an absolute disaster. Sonny Gray once again proved what everybody but Brian Cashman could see last July: He is no Justin Verlander. Or Chris Sale, for that matter. He didn't get out of the 3rd inning, and it was 6-0 by the time he walked off the mound.
Sale, on the other hand, was brilliant for the Sox, allowing just 3 baserunners: He hit Hicks with a pitch in the 1st -- had it been a different Sox pitcher, I'd have been sure hitting the 1st Yankee batter of the game was a message -- and single by Stanton in the 1st, and a walk to Austin Romine in the 2nd. After that, he retired 16 straight Yankees before being relieved.
Red Sox 11, Yankees 0. WP: Sale (8-4). No Save. LP: Gray (5-6).
*
The pendulum swung back in the Sunday night ESPN game. It was a Sevy Sunday, and Luis Severino was dominant, pitching shutout ball into the 7th inning, allowing just 2 hits, although 3 walks, with 6 strikeouts.
The Yankee bats, meanwhile clobbered old Tampa Bay pain in the neck David Price, who was supposed to be the 2nd example of the Sox proving the old saw that "The Yankees can't hit lefthanders," which was disproven long ago. Judge and Torres took him deep in the 1st inning. Hicks hit one out in the 3rd. Higashiokia homered in the 5th, and Hicks added another in the inning to finish Price off. In the 8th, Hicks hit a 3rd home run. HIX STIX NIX SOX.
Chapman needed the work, so Boone sent him in to protect an 11-run lead in the 9th. Even Shreve couldn't blow that, right? Well, Aroldis gotta Aroldis, so he allowed a run, but that was it. Yankees 11, Red Sox 0. WP: Severino (13-2). No save. LP: Price (9-6).
Taking 2 of 3 against The Scum is always good. Not as good as sweeping 3, but I'll gladly take it.
The Yankees end the series sort-of tied with the Sox for 1st place, 54-27 to the Sox' 56-29. Because we still have 4 games in hand on them due to rainouts, we're 2 games ahead in the all-important loss column.
That's 81 games in. The regular season is half-over. The Yankees are in a good position. But it could be better. Bring on the 2nd half.