Michael Wacha and the Boston Red Sox made short work of the AL East-leading New York Yankees on Sunday night.
Pitching for the first time in almost seven weeks, Wacha returned from a shoulder injury to limit New York to a pair of singles in seven innings, and Boston beat the Yankees 3-0 in 2 hours, 15 minutes — tying for the shortest game between the two teams since 1994.
“I feel like I work better that way,” said Wacha, who took a perfect game into the fifth inning. “That’s the mentality that I was facing: Get back in the dugout as quick as possible and let the guys keep getting a crack at their guy.”
Pitching for the first time since June 28, Wacha (7-1) allowed one walk and struck out nine — including major league home run leader Aaron Judge twice. Rafael Devers homered, and Tommy Pham had three hits for the Red Sox, who took two of three from New York — their first win in a multi-game series against a division foe in 13 tries.
Officially, Boston is credited with a “series” win when it beat the Orioles in a one-game visit on Thursday. But manager Alex Cora was hesitant to count that one. “Finally, we won against the East,” he said with a smirk. “Or, that’s two in a row. Sorry.”
New York has lost nine of its last 11 games but still has a double-digit lead in the division; the Red Sox are seventh in the race for the AL’s three wild-card spots.
Ryan Brasier pitched a perfect eighth and Garrett Whitlock pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his fourth save, striking out Judge to end a nine-pitch at-bat and then getting Josh Donaldson on a slow bouncer that second baseman Christian Arroyo bare-handed to make the throw to first and end it.
Jameson Taillon (11-3) allowed three runs on six hits, striking out four to pick up his first loss since July 5.
The Red Sox and Yankees on national television often runs over four hours. But the teams finished in 2:15 on Aug. 3, 2018; they hadn’t played a shorter game since a 2:13 matchup in 1994.
Judge was 0 for 4 with three strikeouts, snapping a string of 14 straight games of reaching base. He had walked at least twice in each of the previous four games.
“He’s having a heck of a season this year, and he’s one of the best in the league,” Wacha said. “I try to keep the guys off of base in front of him and make quality pitches to that type of guy.”
A trade deadline acquisition, Tommy Pham doubled and scored Boston’s first run to lead off the bottom of the first. He has 14 hits in 23 at-bats over his last five games, including a walk-off single in the 10th against the Yankees on Friday. Asked about the offense, Cora said, “Tommy did a good job.”
Devers hit his 25th homer of the season — a two-run shot in the sixth — that was just his second since Aug. 2. It’s his third career 25-homer season, tied with Ted Williams, Tony Conigliaro, Jim Rice, and Nomar Garciaparra for most in Red Sox history through his age 25 year.
But Devers also made a big stop at third base in the fifth, when the Yankees had two of their three baserunners in the game for their only real rally. With runners on first and second and two outs, Kyle Higashioka hit a hard line drive down the third base line that Devers backhanded and threw to first for the out.
The Yankees could get help for their struggling offense in the next few weeks. Yankees OF/DH Giancarlo Stanton (Achilles tendon) will take batting practice on Monday at Yankee Stadium. If all goes well, he will begin a minor league rehab assignment.
However, the return of Stanton could coincide with an injury to another Yankees regular. After the game, Aaron Boone revealed why D.J. LeMahieu was not in the lineup on Sunday:
DJ LeMahieu is dealing with a foot/toe issue and will have imaging done back in NYC tomorrow, Boone says. It’s something DJLM has been dealing with on and off for a bit. #Yankees
— Brendan Kuty 🧟♂️ (@BrendanKutyNJ) August 15, 2022
The Yankees veteran had a cortisone shot during the All-Star break to fix the issue, but now the discomfort has returned, particularly during his swing. However, LeMahieu is not worried: “I feel like it’s just kind of creeping back up a little bit, but everyone’s got something right now. It’s just making sure I’m ready to go the rest of the season.”
Up next the Yankees will send ace Gerrit Cole (9-4) to the mound on Monday against Tampa Bay.
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