On consecutive weekends in June, the New York Yankees dropped five of six games to the Boston Red Sox and were in the initial stages of a slide that eventually knocked them out of first place in the American League East.
The Yankees are showing signs of rebounding from their two-month malaise and will attempt to earn a season-high sixth straight victory when they host the Boston Red Sox in the opener of a four-game series on Thursday night.
New York has lost five straight to the Red Sox after opening the season series with a 9-6 victory on June 6. After their 2-0 loss in Boston on June 16, the Yankees led the division by 2 1/2 games and fell out of first place after an 8-5 loss in Toronto on July 3, which was part of their second six-game losing streak this season.
The Yankees won five straight July 6-11 but then dropped 13 of 20 games and were 6 1/2 games out of first. Starting with a 3-2 win at Texas on Aug. 6, New York is 9-3 over its past 12 games and will return home with a four-game deficit in the division and a 1 1/2-game lead over Boston for the AL’s first wild-card spot.
“Obviously we’re kind of neck-and-neck with them and some others,” manager Aaron Boone said Wednesday before the Yankees earned a 6-4, 10-inning win over the Tampa Bay Rays to conclude a perfect five-game road trip.
“Look, all the series are big. This one, with your rival when you’re fighting for a lot, at this point in the season, I’m sure will have a big feel to it.”
The Yankees enter the game Thursday four games behind the Blue Jays in the AL East, with the Red Sox 5 1/2 back of Toronto. The Yankees and Red Sox currently occupy the top two AL wild-card spots, with Seattle in the third and final position.
The Yankees are on their fourth five-game winning streak this season and followed up hitting nine homers Tuesday by hitting five more Wednesday. Trent Grisham and Austin Wells hit two apiece, and Giancarlo Stanton hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer in the 10th inning as a pinch hitter.
Boston’s three-game sweep of the Yankees June 13-15 was part of a six-game winning streak, and the Red Sox went 21-6 from July 4-Aug. 5. Since then, Boston is 4-8 in its past 12 games, with six of those losses coming by three runs or fewer.
Before their off day on Wednesday, the Red Sox went 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position and stranded 13 and took a 4-3, 11-inning loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday. The defeat came after the Red Sox hit a game-tying, two-run homer in the ninth.
“We chased a lot today,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora, whose team is 3-for-28 with runners in scoring position over the past three games, all losses. “We haven’t done that in a while. We had our opportunities to win the game early in the game, in the middle of the game, late in the game. It just didn’t happen.”
Luis Gil (1-1, 5.14 ERA) will make his fourth start since returning from missing four months with a lat strain. After allowing five runs on Aug. 3 in a 7-3 loss to the Miami Marlins, the right-hander allowed two runs in a no-decision in a 5-4 win against the Houston Astros on Aug. 9 and allowed one run in 5 1/3 innings in Friday’s 4-3 win at St. Louis.
Gil is 1-1 with a 1.10 ERA in three career starts against the Red Sox.
Right-hander Lucas Giolito (8-2, 3.63), who is 1-0 with a 2.84 ERA in his three outings in August, will open the series for the Red Sox. Giolito last pitched on Friday, when he allowed one run on seven hits in 6 1/3 innings in a no-decision in a 2-1 win against the Miami Marlins.
Giolito is 3-2 with a 4.85 ERA in five career starts against the Yankees. He has not faced them this season.