Brett Gardner And Nathan Eovaldi Lead Yankees Over Boston 4-2

The New Yankees got three RBI from Brett Gardner and a strong outing from Nathan Eovaldi to top the Boston Red Sox 4-2 on a sun-glared Saturday afternoon at Fenway Park.

After  Didi Gregorius singled to right field in the third, he moved to second on a wild pitch by Boston starter Wade Miley. Gardner smashed a double into the left field corner. As Hanley Ramirez struggled coming up with the ball, Gardner decided to gamble, attempting to stretch the double into a triple. But Ramirez recovered and fired an accurate throw to nail Gardner at third. [related category]

Eovaldi sailed along until he faced Dustin Pedroia in the fourth with the Yankees still up 1-0. But Pedroia erased the lead by sending a hanging curve ball over the Green Monster in left field. The Yankees answered in the fifth. Chase Headley darted a double down the left field line. Gregorio Petit followed with a bloop single to center, but Headley was unable to advance to third as he had to make sure the ball would not be caught.

Gregorius laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Headley and Petit to second and third. Jacoby Ellsbury hit a hot ground out to first and the runners held. Gardner, Mr. Reliable, then singled to left to put the Yankees up 3-1.

In the seventh, Boston’s rookie catcher Blake Swihart worked a walk. Joe Girardi lifted Eovaldi for Chris Martin. But Martin yielded a double to Mookie Betts, bringing home Swihart and drawing the Red Sox closer at 3-2. That closed the book on Eovaldi,  who pitched 6 2/3 innings allowing seven hits and two runs.

Chris Young gave Dellin Betances some breathing room with a home run in the ninth to increase the Yankees lead to 4-2. It was the sixth of the year for Young who appears to have wrestled the right field job away from Carlos Beltran.  Betances sruck out all four batters that he faced after entering the game in the eighth, earning his first save of the season.

With the win, the Yankees improved their record to 15-9 to remain in first place. Eovaldi improved his record to 2-0.