BALTIMORE — After taking four straight from the absolutely awful Orioles, the Yankees return to The Bronx on Monday night, when they will see a pitcher with a pulse instead of the slop they feasted on this past weekend.
“This was nice, and honestly I thought we were dragging a little bit with the road trip and the doubleheader,” Aaron Boone said following Sunday night’s 5-3 victory over the Orioles witnessed by an embarrassing Camden Yards crowd of 17,343. “Hopefully we can get guys rest and start a big series [Monday] against a really hot pitcher for the White Sox.”
That would be lefty Carlos Rodon, who is 4-0 with a 1.75 ERA in his past eight starts and 5-3 with a 2.71 ERA for the season.
Even though the White Sox have won 8-of-11, they qualify as the latest punching bag for the Yankees based on a 51-79 ledger.
While the White Sox will be at Yankee Stadium for three games, the Red Sox will be watched closely. After having Monday off, the AL East leaders begin a two-game series against the lowly Marlins on Tuesday evening at Fenway Park.
The Yankees’ eighth win in nine games pulled them to within six lengths of the Red Sox, who were swept by the Rays over the weekend. The last time the Yankees were this close to the lead was Aug. 1, when they were 5 ½ games out.
“We are not thinking about the Red Sox, we are thinking about winning games,’’ said Luis Severino, who kept his chances of being the AL Cy Young award winner intact by improving to 17-6.
Severino gave up three runs (two earned), three hits and struck out eight in 5 ²/₃ innings
“That was the best fastball he has had, first-half of the year fastball,” Boone said of Severino’s heater, which was consistently clocked in the 97-98 mph range. “It was electric.’’
Two runs off right-hander Dylan Bundy in the second on Luke Voit’s homer to right-center and two more in the third on Miguel Andujar’s two-run double staked Severino to a 4-0 lead. The Orioles scored once in the fourth, but the Yankees answered with a run thanks to former Yankees prospect Cody Carroll’s wild pitch in the sixth. Trey Mancini homered to start the sixth, and Gleyber Torres’ fourth error in five games led to an unearned run that made it a two-run game.
Because Dellin Betances had worked the previous two games Boone wanted to avoid a third straight appearance, fearing he would have had to be without him for possibly two days. So Zach Britton got the final two outs of the seventh against his former team and worked a clean eighth. David Robertson recorded the final three outs for his fourth save.
When Boone makes out Monday night’s lineup card, the right-handed-hitting Voit is a good bet to be in it thanks to him having hit two homers in three days and being 3-for-3 with a walk Sunday night.
“It’s almost September and the playoffs are around the corner,” said Voit, whose hot bat might keep the slumping Greg Bird on the bench for as long as the wood doesn’t go cold. “I have a chance to show what I got.”
What the Yankees got was four wins against a really bad team, but wins against the bad clubs count just as much as victories over the best, and the victories came at a time when the Red Sox became human.
