BOSTON (AP) — Alex Verdugo scored on a catcher’s interference to break a fourth-inning tie and then scored again in the fifth after reaching on a dropped popop and the Boston Red Sox beat the New York Yankees 4-1 on Sunday night to complete a doubleheader and series sweep of their AL East archrivals.
Verdugo also had an RBI double off the Green Monster to lead the Red Sox to a 6-2 win in the day game, a makeup of Saturday's rainout. Boston won the series opener 15-5 on Friday, giving them their first series sweep of the Yankees in two years.
It's the first time the Red Sox have swept the Yankees in a doubleheader since Sept. 17, 2006, and the first time they did at Fenway Park since since July 31, 1976.
Brayan Bello (4-4) struck out a career-high eight batters in the nightcap, allowing one run and four hits and three walks in seven innings. Kenley Jansen pitched the ninth to earn his 15th save.
Luis Severino (0-2) gave up four runs — three earned — and seven hits with three walks while striking out six.
Gleyber Torres hit a first-inning, two-run homer for the Yankees, who were without slugger and reigning AL MVP Aaron Judge for the 11th straight game because of a sprained right toe. They are 4-7 without him in the lineup during this stretch and 8-13 when he’s been on the injured list this season.
“That's the story line,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of Judge's absence. “We're going to get beat over the head with that. The reality is: That team we're rolling out there is capable of doing damage offensively and even more capable, obviously, when Judge, you take the best player in the world out, that, to me, is just an excuse right now.”
The night game featured some rare crisp defense by the Red Sox, with Jarren Duran making a catch against the bullpen wall in the center field triangle and Pablo Reyes making two plays at shortstop. But it also featured a catcher’s interference, a batter’s interference, one pickoff for each team and a caught stealing.
Wong’s hit pushed the Red Sox ahead 3-2 against Michael King (1-3) in the day game. Two pitches later, Verdugo delivered and scored on Turner’s single. Nick Pivetta (4-4), demoted to the bullpen in mid-May, worked three perfect innings of relief with four strikeouts for the victory.
Torres sent a 97-mph fastball from opener Kaleb Ort into the first row of Monster seats after Jake Bauers opened the game with a ground-rule double.
Facing the Red Sox for the second time in eight days, starter Clarke Schmidt stranded five baserunners in the first three innings before Rafael Devers had a run-scoring grounder and Duvall followed with his RBI hit that chased the right-hander.
LOOKING BETTER
Judge visited with fans, signing autographs and taking pictures on the field outside New York’s dugout about 2 1/2 hours before the start. When finished, he said he was heading for some “rehab treatments.” Boone said the slugger “looks better” and “seems to be walking better.”
On Friday, Judge had a second platelet-rich plasma injection on his sprained right toe. “I know he was pretty beat up (Friday). He was in a lot of pain,” Boone said.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Yankees: Boone said outfielder Harrison Bader (strained right hamstring) “should be good to go” and come off the injured list on Tuesday.
Red Sox: Manager Alex Cora didn’t know yet if right-hander Tanner Houck would need surgery for a facial fracture he suffered when he was hit under the right eye by a line drive off the bat of the Yankees’ Kyle Higashioka on Friday.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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AP freelancer Ken Powtak contributed to this story.
