Red Sox 4, Yankees 1: Eovaldi brilliant again as Boston edges toward sweep

BOSTON --- The question now isn’t whether or not the Red Sox have taken control of the American League East race.

The question now is whether or not Boston will bury the Yankees once and for all this weekend at Fenway Park, with New York one more loss away from the unthinkable.

Nathan Eovaldi was brilliant for the second straight start and the Red Sox offense provided enough early support to help the right-hander settle in quickly. It all added up to a second [...]

BOSTON --- The question now isn’t whether or not the Red Sox have taken control of the American League East race.

The question now is whether or not Boston will bury the Yankees once and for all this weekend at Fenway Park, with New York one more loss away from the unthinkable.

Nathan Eovaldi was brilliant for the second straight start and the Red Sox offense provided enough early support to help the right-hander settle in quickly. It all added up to a second straight 4-1 win on another sticky summer afternoon at the ballpark.

This four-game set is on the brink of becoming the Boston Massacre in reverse, the opposite of a Red Sox unraveling while blowing a seemingly insurmountable lead to surrender the A.L. pennant in 1978. The Yankees are the ones about to cry uncle four decades later, with only their recent success against Boston left-hander David Price to rely upon heading into Sunday night’s finale. The Red Sox now enjoy an 8½-game lead, and one more victory will match their largest in the division since September 2013.

Craig Kimbrel gave the sellout crowd of 36,699 on hand a bit of a roller-coaster ride in the top of the ninth inning, as the Yankees loaded the bases and brought the go-ahead run to the plate in Greg Bird. New York had to settle for an RBI double by Didi Gregorius to break up the shutout bid, as Kimbrel induced Bird to loft a game-ending fly to center. Jackie Bradley Jr. settled under it and made a routine catch, allowing the Boston closer to escape after a rather eventful 32 pitches.

Mitch Moreland’s two-run homer to right in the bottom of the first inning and J.D. Martinez’s solo shot to left in the fourth gave Eovaldi plenty of cushion, as the trade deadline acquisition from the Rays followed up seven scoreless frames against the Twins on Sunday with another gem. Eovaldi’s eight shutout innings made him the first Red Sox starter to post 15 scoreless beginning his career with the club since Billy Rohr in the 1967 Impossible Dream season.

New York managed just two baserunners against Eovaldi through the first five innings, both of whom were erased courtesy of double plays. Gleyber Torres bounced into the first and Gregorius grounded into the second, a 4-6-3 twin-killing that left Eovaldi at just 39 pitches through four frames. He finished with 93 in all, tossing 65 for strikes while scattering three hits and striking out four.

Yankees’ right-hander Chance Adams was given the unenviable task of making his big league debut against a club that is transforming into a runaway train atop the division. Adams was rocked early, as Andrew Benintendi singled to center and Moreland drove a hanging breaking ball into the Boston bullpen to make it 2-0. Adams was just 10 pitches into his outing and already on the hook for the loss.

Martinez further cemented the defeat in the fourth, coming to the plate with one out. He smashed an inside fastball toward the Green Monster in left, peppering the light tower to make it 3-0. It was the 33rd homer of the season for Martinez, who has reached base safely in his last 48 home games.

Eovaldi picked up right where Rick Porcello left off Friday night, ash his fellow right-hander needed just 86 pitches and retired the last 21 men in a complete-game 4-1 victory. New York went 12 full innings without placing a runner in scoring position, finally mounting a semblance of a threat when Giancarlo Stanton lined a leadoff double to left in the seventh. Eovaldi retired the next three batters in short order, getting Torres to wave at a slider for an inning-ending strikeout.

bkoch@providencejournal.com

On Twitter: @BillKoch25