Yankees 8, Red Sox 5: New York on verge of sweeping final series

BOSTON — Do the Red Sox really need to play the Yankees in another meaningless game on Sunday?

"I can’t wait until Monday, honestly," manager Alex Cora admitted after his Sox dropped a second consecutive decision to their arch rivals, 8-5, Saturday at Fenway Park.

Everyone expected the Sox and Yankees to battle for the AL East championship right through their series at Fenway Park on this final weekend of the regular season. [...]

BOSTON — Do the Red Sox really need to play the Yankees in another meaningless game on Sunday?

“I can’t wait until Monday, honestly,” manager Alex Cora admitted after his Sox dropped a second consecutive decision to their arch rivals, 8-5, Saturday at Fenway Park.

Everyone expected the Sox and Yankees to battle for the AL East championship right through their series at Fenway Park on this final weekend of the regular season.

Of course, everyone was wrong. The Red Sox clinched the division title long ago and the only thing left to decide this weekend was for the Yankees to wrap up home field for the wild card game, which they did on Friday night with an 11-5 victory.

So there was nothing at stake on Saturday when these two long-time rivals met and New York earned its 100th victory for the 20th time in franchise history. The Sox could capture the season series with a victory in the regular-season finale on Sunday, but they care far more about being victorious in the playoffs

The Sox will host the Yankees or the Athletics on Friday in Game 1 of the ALDS.

“We’re ready for the games to start mattering again,” Brock Holt said. “You play 162 games and you get to the point where we clinched the division and now whether we win or lose doesn’t matter. It’s kind of got the spring training vibe again so we’re ready for the lights to come on and October baseball to start.”

“It’s kind of weird, honestly,” Cora said of losing the past couple of meaningless games in a 107-victory season.

The Sox have dropped three in a row and seven of their last 11, but Cora isn’t concerned.

“Because if we win eight out of 10,” Cora said, “people will say it doesn’t count. If we lose seven out of 10, people might say it didn’t count. It really doesn’t count. We’re going to be 0-0 next week.”

The Sox trailed, 8-2, but Blake Swihart drove in a run with a groundout in the eighth and Holt hit a two-run home run in the ninth. Holt has tied his career high with seven home runs, four of them in his last 13 games. Holt’s newfound power hasn’t surprised him.

“Not really,” he said. “I think I’ve surprised some guys in here (the clubhouse) a little bit. They joke with me, but, no, I’ve always felt that I’ve had a little bit in the tank and I’m not going to hit a ton of home runs, but I can drive the ball whenever I get a good pitch and put a good swing on it.”

Holt also singled in the first to extend his hitting streak to 10 games during which he’s hit .419 to lift his season average to .274. He’s shown he deserves to play in the postseason.

The Red Sox are counting on Eduardo Rodriguez to help out in relief during the postseason. The 25-year-old southpaw will have to pitch better than he did on Saturday.

In two innings of relief, Rodriguez allowed three runs on four hits, including a run-scoring double by Greg Bird and two-run home run by rookie Gleyber Torres to give the Yankees a 4-1 lead in the fourth. Cora usually looks on the bright side of everything, but he was candid with his comments about Rodriguez’s performance.

“Not good,” Cora said.

Cora didn’t like that New York’s left-handed hitters hit the left-handed Rodriguez hard.

“He needs to be better,” Cora said.

Rodriguez tried to remain upbeat.

“I’ve been feeling really good,” Rodriguez insisted. “Just because today they scored a couple runs don’t mean like I don’t feel good. I was feeling great.”

Cora said Rodriguez might pitch another inning in relief on Sunday.

Rodriguez relieved for only the third time this season and the fourth time in his four seasons with the Sox. He’s made 88 starts, but he’ll pitch out of the bullpen in the playoffs. In the only postseason appearance of his career, Rodriguez relieved in an 8-2 loss at Houston in Game 2 of the ALDS last year and he didn’t retire a batter. He allowed a hit, hit a batter and surrendered two runs.

Torres’ home run was the 265th by the Yankees this season, breaking the major-league record which the Seattle Mariners had held since 1997. Giancarlo Stanton homered off an 80-mile-an-hour knuckleball from Steven Wright in the seventh to add to the home run record. New York has hit six home runs in the first two games of the series.

The Sox are treating the final weekend as bullpen games. On Saturday, the Sox used seven pitchers and so did the Yankees, who were forced to bring in closer Aroldis Chapman in the ninth to strike zone Jackie Bradley Jr. with two on to end the game. In the first two games of the series, the Sox bullpen has allowed 13 runs on 22 hits, including five home runs, in 13 innings. With nothing at stake or not, that’s not what the Sox want.