Yankees are hoping to keep their clutch hits rolling against Red Sox

The New York Yankees have not relied on a booming offense in recent times however, they are performing just enough to squeeze out victories and extend their advantage over the American League East.

The New York Yankees haven’t relied on a booming offense lately however, they are performing just enough to squeeze out victories and extend their advantage on the American League East.

After the game-ending hit by Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Juan Soto, the Yankees are hoping to win their third straight game in their game against their rivals the Boston Red Sox on Friday night.

The Yankees (85-62) are 7-0 in their seven previous games, having lost six of their last nine games against the Texas Rangers, St. Louis Cardinals and Washington Nationals. Four of the wins were with three or less runs while their Yankees had scored four or more runs once in those games.

Chisholm was the winner of the game with a single in the 11th inning of Wednesday’s 4-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals and Soto provided the Yankees an 1-0 win against their opponents the Red Sox with a single in the 10th inning on Thursday. They Yankees remain two wins ahead of Baltimore Orioles in the AL East which is their biggest lead since they took over the lead in the division in August. 21.

“Guys are playing really well,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “We haven’t seen a lot of offensive within us the past couple of nights, but (we’re) getting enough. I think we’ve got some good bats tonight.

The Yankees won their last two victories despite going 0-for-9 when a runner was in scoring position and also stranding 17. After Soto’s game-winning strike, New York left the bases unloaded in the sixth and fourth.

New York is getting these victories in spite of Aaron Judge being stuck on 51 homers. After hitting two homers in the game against Colorado Rockies on Aug. 25, Judge is homerless in the last 16 games, and has hit .207 (12-for-58).

Boston (74-73) is down three games in a row at New York and is 4 1/2 games behind Minnesota Twins for the third and final AL wild card.

Danny Jansen hit a tying homer in the fifth, but his Red Sox were held to four hits and struck out 14 times. In the past, Red Sox have stuck out 50 times in the past four games, and at least 10, in the 14 game since August. 18.

Rafael Devers was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts on Thursday. He’s not homer-free for 14 consecutive games. In the 14 games since his previous home run in August. 25 Devers has been 9 for 54 (.167)

“I’m not going through my best moments right now but that’s part of baseball,” Devers stated via an interpreter. “There are some times when you’re going to go through this stretch and that’s what’s happening to me right now. I’m not perfect and that’s just baseball.”

The New York Yankees’ Clarke Schmidt (5-3, 2.34 ERA) will make his second start after his return from a long injured list time. Schmidt had to miss more than 86 games due to an injured right lat. He played 4 2/3 innings in four-hit baseball in Saturday’s 2-0 victory over the home team Chicago Cubs, marking his third game in which he has not scored.

Schmidt is 0-1, with an 4.23 ERA in eight career appearances (four starts) against the Red Sox. The last time he faced them was on the Red Sox on Sept. 14 last year and allowed the Red Sox to score four run (three earned) with seven hits over 5 1/3 innings of decision that was not a win in Boston.

Tanner Houck (8-10, 3.24) He was scratched from his previous scheduled start because of an injury to his shoulder the previous day, is scheduled to start to start for the first time in a while since surrendering five hits and four runs in a loss of 8-3 on September. 4 against the home New York Mets.

Houck is 0-4 and has an 4.78 ERA in nine starts following the All-Star break. He was throwing two hits over 6 innings of work against Oakland Athletics on July 11 in his final outing before the break.

Houck is 3-3 and has an 2.38 ERA in 14 career appearances (nine starts) against the Yankees.

–Field Level Media