NEW YORK (AP) A year after beating the Boston Red Sox to win an AL Wild Card Series, the New York Yankees beat Boston.
Max Fried led the Red Sox in the postseason for the second straight year, Cody Bellinger and Luis García Jr. homered, and the Yankees earned a 9-2 victory Wednesday night that completed a two-game sweep.
“We enjoyed it tonight. We still have a lot of work to do,” Bellinger said.
New York will face AL East champion Tampa Bay in an AL Division Series starting Saturday.
“The fans were electric from the first pitch and the boys were hungry. We have a young, hungry team here,” Yankees captain Aaron Judge said as his teammates sprayed him with champagne during the clubhouse celebration. “It makes me feel young every time.”
Judge missed this series with a calf injury and isn’t sure he will play against the Rays, who beat New York 7-6 in the season series.
“Saturday is far away,” he said.
Clinging to a 2-1 lead after Willson Contreras scored to end Boston’s 26-game scoreless streak in the postseason, the Yankees opened the game with a sixth run after Spencer Jones reached on a wild pitch while striking out early in the game – with the help of a video review.
García, acquired at the trade deadline, had three hits in his first postseason start, and Bellinger had four RBIs, including a three-run homer capping the sixth-inning burst that gave New York an 8-1 lead.
“First step,” said Bellinger, who caught the ceremonial first pitch from his father, Clay, the 2000 Yankees World Series champion. “Now we have to go to Tampa and play a tough team.”
Boston, which reached the playoffs after rebounding from a 32-46 start, lost last year’s wild-card game after beating the Yankees in Game 1.
“Regardless of all the special things that have happened this summer, and there have been several, the goal is to win the World Series and that ended for us tonight, so it’s frustrating,” Red Sox manager Chad Tracy said. “There’s a lot you can say, but right now I think the guys only care about the fact that we lost. And it’s going to take some time to get over that.”
Boston, which also got a seventh-inning homer from Nick Sogard off Will Warren, was missing leadoff hitter Roman Anthony because of a hand injury. The Red Sox were held to a .117 average in the series (7 for 60) with 18 strikeouts and outscored 18-2.
New York hit .382 in the series. Boston’s bullpen had a 20.25 ERA.
“We played some good baseball in a lot of ways here, obviously thanks to our two great starters,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.
Yankees hitters hit .450 (9-for-20) with runners in scoring position after finishing 19th among 30 teams with a RISP of .246 during the regular season.
“I feel like it’s a whole new level between the regular season and these last couple days,” Austin Wells said.
A day after Cam Schlittler led New York to a 9-0 victory, Fried pitched three hits in six innings to win a playoff game for the first time since the 2021 World Series clincher with Atlanta.
New York started eight left-handed batters against Sonny Gray, returning to the mound where his career was derailed during a dismal Yankees stretch in 2017 and 2018.
García’s fourth-inning homer gave the Yankees the lead, and Bellinger, one of the best left-to-left hitters in the major leagues, added an RBI single in the fifth inning against left-hander Erik Miller, who had just relieved.
Gray was disappointed that he was not allowed to face Bellinger.
“I think I’m the best pitcher in the American League coming through the order for the third time. I think that’s a fact,” Gray said. “I wish I lived or died with me in that moment, but that’s the competitor that I am. And yeah, I think you can probably ask the guys and they felt the same way. So I felt strong. I felt confident. I felt convinced.”
Jones struck out both early and late in the sixth inning, a bizarre half-inning that included a wild pitch, a throwing error, a stolen base, a bunt single and an intentional walk to Ben Rice that preceded Bellinger’s homer.
“I can’t believe they were willing to take on a guy like Belli with men on base there,” Rice said.
Garrett Crochet, who beat the Yankees in Game 1 of last year’s Wild Card Series, hadn’t pitched since April 25 because of left shoulder inflammation when he bounced a sweeper off Adley Rutschman’s chest. The catcher picked up the ball and threw it to first, where referee John Libka signaled that Jones was out. The Yankees appealed and the decision was overturned by the video umpire in the commissioner’s office.
“I couldn’t believe he was there,” Boone said. “I saw the ball go a little bit away. I didn’t think much about it, I looked up and I was like, ‘Oh, he’s safe.'”
Jones slipped to second and continued to third when Rutschman’s throw skipped to center. Rookie George Lombard Jr. singled for his first RBI of the postseason, Jazz Chisholm Jr. singled and Trent Grisham loaded the bases with a bunt single.
Wells’ sacrifice fly to Garrett Whitlock increased the lead to 4-1, Ryan McMahon had an RBI groundout and Rice, who had four hits and six RBIs in the opener, was intentionally walked. Bellinger leaned over and made a change in the right-center field seats.
Fried struck out six and walked one. He allowed one run in 12 1/3 innings in the two Wild Card Series against the Red Sox.
“I definitely wasn’t accurate from the start, but I just wanted to challenge them, not try to give away free passes, especially in the first inning,” Fried said.
After a night of celebration and a day of rest, the Yankees will travel to Florida on Friday.
“There’s so much more to do,” Bellinger said after the big night with his father by his side. “So obviously enjoy the moment, understand how cool it is, but keep going.”
New York RHP Gerrit Cole (10-9, 3.61), who would have started a third game against Boston, will likely start Game 1 against the Rays.
—
See the AP’s complete MLB coverage here
Copyright 2026 STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and the Associated Press is strictly prohibited.
Gn sports
