NEW YORK — For seven innings Sunday, the banged-up Yankees looked like a team that could not quite break through. A pitchers’ duel had them tied with the Red Sox, their thin lineup struggling to push runs across at a sold-out Yankee Stadium. Then one swing changed everything, and the floodgates opened in a hurry.
What had been a tense afternoon turned into a rout. The Yankees erupted for five runs in the eighth inning to beat Boston 6-1, salvaging a split of the rain-shortened, two-game series and pulling within a whisker of first place.
A duel that would not break
For most of the day, this was a game about pitching. Yankees starter Cam Schlittler and Red Sox lefty Ranger Suarez traded zeros and kept both offenses quiet, setting up the late drama.
Suarez was sharp early, retiring the first nine Yankees he faced. New York finally scratched through in the fifth, when Jose Caballero doubled and Paul Goldschmidt sliced a two-out opposite-field single to right, just in front of a sliding Wilyer Abreu, for a 1-0 lead. The Red Sox answered immediately in the sixth. With two outs, Willson Contreras smoked a double off the base of the left-field wall, scoring Ceddanne Rafaela to tie it. A high relay throw from Anthony Volpe let Rafaela come home easily.
The tie held into the eighth, with the Yankees twice failing to cash in scoring chances. The game was waiting for someone to seize it.
Bellinger lights the fuse
Here is where the afternoon turned. Red Sox reliever Justin Slaten struck out the first two batters of the eighth, and the inning looked headed for nothing. Then Cody Bellinger stepped in and changed the math entirely.
Bellinger drove a cutter from Slaten into the right-center seats for his ninth home run of the season, snapping the 1-1 tie and giving the Yankees a 2-1 edge. It was a fitting blow from a player who has arguably been the team’s most valuable all-around performer this year. The solo shot was only the beginning.
That homer kicked off a stretch of five straight Yankees reaching base. The two-out rally that looked dead seconds earlier suddenly had life, and Boston could not stop the bleeding.
Chisholm slams the door
The knockout punch came soon after. Trent Grisham followed Bellinger’s blast with an RBI single to stretch the lead, and the Yankees kept the pressure on against lefty Joe La Sorsa.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. delivered the dagger, launching a three-run homer off a cutter from La Sorsa to blow the game open. The drive turned a one-run nail-biter into a comfortable 6-1 cushion and sent the Yankee Stadium crowd into a frenzy. It also gave closer David Bednar plenty of breathing room for the ninth.
In five runs across one explosive inning, the Yankees had erased an afternoon of frustration. The offense that had looked lifeless without Aaron Judge finally found its punch when it mattered most.
Schlittler shines against his hometown team
The eruption rescued a strong outing from Schlittler, who deserved better for most of the day. Pitching against the Red Sox, the team he rooted for growing up, the young right-hander was excellent again.
Schlittler held Boston to one run across 5 2/3 innings, lowering his ERA to 1.87. It marked his ninth start allowing one run or none. His four-seam fastball averaged 97.5 mph, down from 99.6 mph on May 4 but up from his previous outing against Cleveland. His only blemish was the two-out Contreras double in the sixth. The bullpen finished the job, as Fernando Cruz, Brent Headrick, Tim Hill and Bednar combined for 3 1/3 scoreless innings. Hill picked up the win.
A win that tightens the AL East
The victory carried real weight in the standings. At 38-26, the Yankees moved within percentage points of the first-place Tampa Bay Rays, who have led the AL East since May 10.
The result was especially encouraging given how shorthanded New York remains. The Yankees are without three regulars on the injured list in Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Wells. In their five games without Judge, they had hit just .226 with 19 runs, making the eighth-inning outburst a welcome sign. Catcher Ali Sanchez made his Yankees debut with Wells out, going 0-for-2.
There was more good news on the way. Outfielder Jasson Dominguez, sidelined since May 7 with a sprained AC joint, could rejoin the Yankees on their upcoming trip to Cleveland and Toronto. Will Warren takes the ball Monday for the Yankees against Cleveland’s Gavin Williams to open that road swing. For one afternoon, though, the story was simple. Two swings from Bellinger and Chisholm turned a grind into a rout and kept the Yankees right on Tampa Bay’s heels.
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