Venezuelans Gleyber Torres and Rougned Odor homered to back another solid start by Jameson Taillon and the depleted New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 9-1.
Without star Aaron Judge and five other of his teammates who also recently tested positive for COVID-19, the Yankees won their second straight game against Boston after losing their first seven meetings against the Red Sox this season.
New York won two of three games in an originally scheduled four-game series before Thursday’s meeting was postponed for diagnostic tests and contact tracing. Boston, which has lost six of its last eight games, closed the weekend with a half-game lead in the AL East over Tampa Bay and seven games ahead of the Yankees.
Taillon (5-4) pitched 5 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing four hits, in his 100th career start. He is 4-0 in his last five outings. Chad Green came out of trouble in the sixth inning to protect a three-touchdown lead.
Ryan LaMarre, recently promoted from branch office, hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning, his first with the Yankees and his first major league home run since September 2019.
DJ LeMahieu reached 30 games in a row on base, the longest streak in the majors this season, with a single that opened the door to a run in the third inning.
Torres hit five home runs this season when he tangled with a 0-2 pitch by Martín Pérez (7-6) to start the second inning. Torres also homered in his final at-turn on Saturday, a 3-1 victory in six innings due to a heavy downpour. It is the first time he has hit home runs in consecutive games since June 2019.
For the Yankees, Venezuelans Rougned Odor 3-2 with two RBIs and three runs; Gleyber Torres 2-1 with two RBIs and one scored. The Dominican Gary Sánchez 3-0.
For the Red Sox, Puerto Ricans Christian Vázquez 2-1; Enrique Hernández 5-0. The Mexican Alex Verdugo 4-0. The Dominican Rafael Devers 1-0. AP (HN)