BOSTON — Having secured the home-field advantage for the American League wild-card game, the New York Yankees seek their 100th win of the season in the second game of the final regular-season series against the Boston Red Sox Saturday.
Lance Lynn pitches for the Yankees, who haven’t won 100 games since winning the World Series in 2009, against former Yankee Nathan Eovaldi, who has pitched his way into the postseason starting rotation for Boston.
The Yankees have hit seven home runs in the last two games to pull into a tie with the 1997 Seattle Mariners for the all-time major league record for home runs — with 264. They have scored 23 runs in the two victories.
They got Didi Gregorius, feared lost for the season after suffering a wrist injury a week ago, back in the lineup Friday night, along with Aaron Hicks, who returned after missing three games in St. Petersburg and hit a three-run homer Friday night.
And now the Yankees don’t have to fly cross country to play in a hostile environment, where even a win would lead to turning around and flying right back to Boston.
“It’s a huge advantage,” Hicks said on the YES Network after the game. “We’re a great team when we’re playing at home. We’re hard to beat there, so that’s going to be huge for us.”
Said manager Aaron Boone: “In a lot of ways we’re built for our ballpark.”
Now, on Saturday, in a game that means little except for the chase for No. 100, the Yankees have to deal with Eovaldi. The right-hander has faced his former team twice since joining the Red Sox, throwing 14 shutout innings as part of going 6-7 with a 3.88 ERA this season with Tampa Bay and Boston. He also started a game against the Yankees while pitching for Tampa Bay this season, allowing five runs and eight hits in a loss on June 15.
He could be in line for an ALDS start.
Over his last two starts, Eovaldi has pitched 11 innings, allowing six hits and one run while striking out 15.
Either the Yankees or Oakland A’s will be back at Fenway next Friday, and Eovaldi would be starting on the road in a Game 4 — or perhaps even Game 3.
“I haven’t heard anything yet, officially, about what I’ll be doing playoff-wise,” Eovaldi told Sirius XM’s MLB Network Radio. “I (have) the one more start this Saturday. So I’m trying to focus on that one.”
Eovaldi, picked up from the Rays prior to the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, came out of the gate like a rocket with Boston, throwing two straight scoreless starts. He faltered and has come on again.
Lynn was picked up by the Yankees from the Twins at the deadline and is 2-2 in nine games, including eight starts, with New York. Overall this season, Lynn is 9-10 with a 4.80 ERA.
In his last three outings, he has allowed 13 hits and four earned runs in 16 innings. That followed a poor stretch, where he went 0-2 with a 9.16 ERA in four starts.
His success upon arrival allowed the Yankees to move the floundering Sonny Gray to the bullpen.
Lynn doesn’t seem to have a starting spot in the postseason and may or may not force his way into the crowded and talented bullpen.
Lynn is 1-1 with a 1.80 ERA in five career starts against Boston, and he is 1-0 with a 1.64 ERA against the Red Sox this season.
Jackie Bradley Jr. is 3-for-5 (.600) with two home runs, Ian Kinsler 4-for-8 (.500), Eduardo Nunez 3-for-6 (.500) and Mookie Betts 4-for-10 (.400) against Lynn, while Xander Bogaerts is just 1-for-14 (.071), Andrew Benintendi 1-for-10 (.100) and J.D. Martinez 3-for-17 (.176).
For the Yankees, Andrew McCutchen is 3-for-6 and Gregorius 5-for-14 (.357) with a homer against Eovaldi, while Gleyber Torres is 1-for-8 (.125), Hicks 3-for-13 (.213) and Giancarlo Stanton 2-for-9 (.222).
Yankees rookie Miguel Andujar, who started the season in Triple-A, ripped his 44th double of the season Friday night, tying Joe DiMaggio for the franchise’s rookie record. Joe D. did it in 1936 and never had as many as 44 again.
It still hasn’t been announced, but Friday night winner J.A. Happ is in line to pitch the wild-card game. However, his career success against the Red Sox could lead to starting either Luis Severino or Masahiro Tanaka in the game against Oakland.
The Yankees and A’s split six games this season, both going 2-1 in their own ballpark.
Friday night’s win by New York left the Red Sox ahead of the Yankees 9-8 in the season series.
