Yankees: Jameson Taillon’s redemption tour continues as NYY steamrolls Boston

A series win over the Boston Red Sox and a chance to keep pace in the AL Wild Card race was on the line for the New York Yankees on Sunday night.

Hell must have frozen over this weekend, because the Yankees capitalized, taking down their longtime rivals to the tune of a convincing 9-1 victory.

While the offense deserves credit for stringing together runs without some of its big boppers, the story of the game was Jameson Taillon, who was excellent once again, pitching 5.1 scoreless innings to lower his ERA to 4.60 for the campaign.

Perhaps the biggest moment of the game came in the sixth inning when Chad Green relieved Taillon with runners on second and third and just one out.

As he’s done on countless occasions for the Yankees this season, Green came up huge, inducing a strikeout of Rafael Devers, albeit on a controversial check swing call from the third base ump, before disposing of Hunter Renfroe via a groundout to escape the jam.

Jameson Taillon absolutely shoved against the Red Sox on Sunday night.

Getting back to the offense, Gleyber Torres opened the scoring, blasting a solo home run (his second in as many nights) to give the Yankees an early lead. Giancarlo Stanton would add the second run in the third with a fielder’s choice RBI.

If you can believe it, the Yankees scored another run via small ball in the bottom of the fifth when Greg Allen brought Rougned Odor, who crafted a perfectly-dragged bunt single to lead off the frame, home on a sacrifice fly to center field. Where’s that been all year?

In any event, that was all the scoring the offense needed to produce in this one, though Odor added a two-run blast in the seventh before Torres and Chris Gittens walked with the bases loaded later in the inning to further New York’s cushion. And shoutout to Ryan LaMarre for smacking his first big fly in Pinstripes to really rub it in Boston’s face.

As for Taillon, Yankees fans have to be encouraged with what they’ve seen lately from the 29-year-old righty. In three starts this month, Taillon has posted a 1.49 ERA while allowing just 11 hits and five walks to 16 strikeouts over 18.1 innings.

Words can’t begin to describe how huge it would be for the Yanks’ rotation if Taillon can use this  hot streak as a springboard over these next few months.

Having said all that, there’s no reason for fans to overreact to this victory. Sure, a series win is huge given all the adversity the Yankees were dealt this week regarding COVID-19. However, all that good work could be undone with a lackluster showing in this next series vs the Phillies.

Still 3.5 games behind the Athletics for the second AL Wild Card spot, Aaron Boone’s side can’t afford to take their foot off the gas.

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