The Yankees went into the MLB All-Star break by making a statement.
New York scored 13 runs — including eight in the fourth inning — on 14 hits as they closed out the first half of the season with a 13-2 win over the Boston Red Sox. The lopsided victory sends the Yankees into the break with a 64-28 record, which remains the best in baseball.
The 64 wins tied the number that Houston had in 2018 for third-most prior to the break since the All-Star Game began in 1933.
The Yankees scored 27 runs over their last two games, the most they’ve scored in a two-game, and held Boston to just three runs in that span. The previous high had been back on June 11 and June 12 when the Bombers scored a combined 26 runs against the Chicago Cubs.
Yankees starter Gerrit Cole threw seven innings and struck out 12 batters as he prepared to go to Los Angeles for the festivities this week. He allowed just two runs on four hits as he picked up his ninth win of the year.
Sunday’s rivalry beatdown marked the sixth time this season that Cole registered 10 or more strikeouts, with only two other major league pitchers doing so more times.
The victory capped one of the best first halves of a season for the Yankees in franchise history. New York goes into the break first in Major League Baseball, the American League and American League East.
The Yankees are also first in home runs (157) and runs scored (497). New York also holds the third-best team ERA in the majors.
The Yankees came out of the gate swinging in the final game of the three-game set with Boston. DJ LeMahieu doubled on New York’s first at-bat and Aaron Judge was hit by a pitch.
Gleyber Torres reached on a fielder’s choice two batters later, which allowed LeMahieu to score the game’s first run. A ground out by Matt Carpenter allowed Judge to score and a line drive single by Aaron Hicks made it a 3-0 game in the bottom of the first.
The Red Sox cut the lead to one in the third inning. Jackie Bradley Jr. reached base on a single to center field and Jeter Downs sent a shot to center to make it a 3-2 ballgame.
The Yankees cushioned their lead in the bottom of the fourth when they exploded for eight runs. It started after Tim Locastro and Kyle Higashioka each reached base and LeMahieu sent a line drive to right to drive in a run.
A groundball to right field by Judge extended the lead to 5-2 and Carpenter doubled later in the inning to score two more runs for New York. Hicks made it an 8-2 with a single and Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s sacrifice fly drove in the Yankees’ ninth run of the afternoon.
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Locastro’s 11th home run of the season capped the high-scoring inning to drive in two more and make it an 11-2 game.
The Yankees scored their final two runs when slumping Joey Gallo sent a two-run home run 379 feet to right field.
