NEW YORK — The Boston Red Sox had seen enough of Ben Rice, and they made sure the Yankees slugger would not beat them twice.
The Massachusetts native went 4-for-5 with two homers and six RBIs against his hometown club in the opener. A night later, Boston manager Chad Tracy refused to let him swing. With two outs and a runner aboard in the sixth inning Wednesday night, Boston put Rice on first with an intentional walk.
That sent Cody Bellinger to the plate. Hours earlier, he had caught the ceremonial first pitch from his father, Clay, a member of the 2000 World Series champion Yankees.
Bellinger took ball one from Garrett Whitlock. The next pitch was a changeup over the middle. He lifted it high toward right-center. Wilyer Abreu ran out of room as it settled in the second row.
The sellout crowd of 49,004 at Yankee Stadium was roaring long before the ball came down.
For more than five innings, nothing about the night pointed to a rout. Max Fried and former Yankees right-hander Sonny Gray traded zeros through three innings. Luis García Jr., a New York-born trade deadline pickup from Washington, broke the tie with a 107 mph solo shot in the fourth.
Bellinger singled home a run off lefty Erik Miller in the fifth after Tracy pulled Gray at 70 pitches to loud boos. One batter later, left fielder Nate Eaton threw out Rice at the plate on a García single.
Gray, 36, went 18-5 with a 2.72 ERA in his first season with Boston. The Yankees countered him with eight left-handed hitters, the most in a single playoff lineup in MLB history.
Then Willson Contreras cleared the right-field wall with two outs in the sixth. The homer cut the gap to 2-1 and ended a 26 2/3-inning postseason scoring drought, the longest in Red Sox history.
The New York Yankees answered with six runs in the bottom half. The 9-2 win completed a two-game sweep of the AL Wild Card Series. It sent Aaron Boone’s club into the AL Division Series against the Tampa Bay Rays. For the second straight October, the Yankees ended Boston’s season, this time without captain Aaron Judge, who has a calf injury.
A strikeout that broke the game open
The decisive inning began with an out that never happened. Rookie Spencer Jones swung through a sweeper from Garrett Crochet, making his first appearance since April 25. The ball bounced off catcher Adley Rutschman, and a Yankees challenge reversed the out call at first.
Jones stole second and took third when Rutschman’s throw skipped into center. Fellow rookie George Lombard Jr. singled him home. Singles by Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Trent Grisham loaded the bases and chased Crochet without an out.
Austin Wells greeted Whitlock with a sacrifice fly, and Ryan McMahon added an RBI groundout. Then Boston walked Rice.
What the clubhouse said about Boston’s choice
Rice, who hit a grand slam in the opener, was stunned by the decision.
“I can’t believe they were willing to face a guy like Belli with men on base there,” Rice said.
Gray disagreed with being lifted as the Yankees lineup turned over a third time.
“I think I’m the best pitcher in the American League going through the order a third time. I think that’s a fact,” Gray said.
The series was 4-0 through five innings, then 14-2
Box scores show how close the series was early. The Yankees led 2-0 after five innings each night.
From the sixth inning on, it was 14-2. Boston’s bullpen was charged with 15 of the 18 runs and posted a 20.25 ERA.
Boston had just three at-bats with runners in scoring position all series and went hitless in them. Both of its runs came on solo homers.
The Yankees went 9-for-20 in those spots after hitting .246 in them during the regular season, 19th in the majors. Wells, who drove in four runs, noticed the shift.
“I feel like it’s a whole new level from regular season to these last two days,” Wells said.
A postseason first for the Yankees
According to OptaSTATS, they are MLB’s first team to score at least 90% of the runs in a postseason series with 20-plus total runs.
Their average margin of eight runs per game is the largest in any postseason series of two or more games. They also joined the 2020, 1998 and 1960 Yankees with nine or more runs in back-to-back postseason games.
The pitching staff opened the club’s 61st postseason appearance with 14 scoreless innings, second in franchise history behind 20 in 1921. It allowed two runs and 10 baserunners with 19 strikeouts, a two-game combination no other AL team has matched in the postseason. Boston hit .117.
Every starter had a hit Wednesday. García had three, and Bellinger drove in four with his 11th career postseason homer.
Fried allowed one run over six innings for his first postseason win since Atlanta’s 2021 World Series clincher. Gray took the loss.
Rays, rotation and Judge’s status next
The sweep spared Yankees ace Gerrit Cole, who is likely to start Game 1 of the ALDS on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. ET at Tropicana Field.
Tampa Bay won the AL East at 98-64 and took the season series 7-6. Judge’s status remains unclear, and the captain offered no timeline.
“Saturday’s a long ways away,” Judge said.
Boston, without injured leadoff hitter Roman Anthony, saw its season end after rallying from a 32-46 start. The Yankees fly to Florida on Friday.
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