Not much can slow the Yankees these days.
Not injuries to three of their top hitters — and certainly not the Red Sox.
After placing DJ LeMahieu on the injured list — where he joined Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton — the Yankees went on and beat Boston again, this time 4-2, in The Bronx.
And after Mike Tauchman and Clint Frazier led the offense the previous two games, on Sunday, it was Mike Ford, who hit a two-run homer and had an RBI single.
“We have a lot of guys that could play elsewhere right now and help teams win,’’ Ford said. “It’s just nice when us fill-in guys can come up and have some success.”
They helped propel J.A. Happ to his first victory of the season after a rough start to the year, which included having his first outing pushed back and then being skipped over.
The two times Happ did start, he pitched poorly, leading to some speculation that he might soon be fighting for his spot in the rotation.
Gleyber Torres (left) and Mike Ford celebrate a home run tonight as the Yankees beat the Red Sox again.Corey Sipkin“Honestly, I felt like it was a big game for me,’’ Happ said. “You always want to get back on track. I try not to think of consequences here or there.”
Happ quieted some of those questions by limiting the Red Sox to one run over 5 ²/₃ innings. He credited the turnaround to pitching more aggressively after walking eight batters in seven innings in his first two starts.
The 37-year-old has a lot riding on this season, with a $17 million vesting option on the line for next year, and the lefty didn’t want to discuss the possibility the Yankees could be trying to limit his innings to keep that option year from kicking in, but Aaron Boone said before the game that did not factor into his decision to skip Happ’s last turn in favor of Jordan Montgomery.
He’ll no doubt stick in the rotation after giving up just a solo shot to Kevin Pillar — although the Red Sox are a shell of the team the Yankees typically contend with in the AL East.
As Zack Britton said after he pitched around some wildness to earn his eighth save, “That’s not the same Red Sox team over there right now. They still have a good lineup.”
Perhaps, but the Yankees have now beaten Boston nine straight times. It’s their longest winning streak against the Red Sox since they won 12 in a row during a span that stretched from 1952 to ’53.
These Red Sox have lost seven straight and are hardly what the Yankees are used to seeing, with a makeshift rotation and shoddy bullpen.
The Yankees have also won five in a row overall, even as they get hit by injuries in a way that’s reminiscent of 2019.
“With the injuries, we had some experience with that last year,’’ Britton said. “We don’t skip a beat. You’re not gonna find that on many teams.”
The Yankees took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, sparked by consecutive one-out singles by Gio Urshela and Tauchman. After Gleyber Torres struck out, Ford delivered a flare to center to score Urshela.
The Yankees added another run an inning later. Brett Gardner led off the bottom of the second with a walk and moved to second on a Frazier groundout to third. Tyler Wade whiffed before Aaron Hicks’ two-out chopper hit first base and bounced high, out of Michael Chavis’ reach. It went for an RBI double to make it 2-0.
The Yankees got to Boston starter Chris Mazza again in the bottom of the inning, with Ford following a Torres single with a two-run homer into the seats in right.
Meanwhile, Happ continued to roll. He lasted until the sixth, when he was pulled after walking Rafael Devers. It was just Happ’s second walk.
Adam Ottavino and Chad Green got the Yankees to the ninth, when Britton allowed a run because of some wildness and an error he committed that would have ended the game.
