The Yankees have officially caught the Red Sox after sweeping their rivals in Tuesday’s doubleheader, and Boston manager Alex Cora believes his group is trying to slow down a different team with a different look.
The righty-heavy, flat-footed Yankees are no more, at least they have looked like a thing of the past since the All-Star break. Aided by the additions of lefty power bats Joey Gallo and Anthony Rizzo, the Yanks have bolstered their defense and even upped their aggression on the basepaths, displaying a sense of urgency that seemed to be slanted in Boston’s favor while the Red Sox were winning the first seven head-to-head matchups to start the season.
Now, the new-look Yanks have taken five of the last eight, including their last two series against the Red Sox in the Bronx.
“They have a good team, I‘ve been saying all along,” Cora said. “They did some good things throughout when they had trouble with COVID and all that. It started with the last homestand here, with all young kids coming up here…some of them were veteran in Triple-A, coming up and playing a different brand of baseball.”
That new brand was on display on Tuesday, as Yankees manager Aaron Boone seemed to press all the right buttons with his bullpen deployment, as his relievers didn’t allow a single run in either game, while Cora’s bullpen decisions came into question when the Yanks put up a three-run fifth in game one to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 5-2 victory.
In game two, the Yanks swiped three bases in an almost unrecognizable strategy for a team that entered the day having stolen just 44 bases all season.
“That’s a different team than earlier in the season,” Cora said. “They’re more agile, more versatile, more athletic.”
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A big difference in the team’s makeup is the arrival of Rizzo and Gallo, the latter who delivered the go-ahead and eventual game-winning home run against the Angels on Monday, and his elite defense came into play in Tuesday’s nightcap, when a fly ball to Gallo in left didn’t draw a tag from the speedy Jarren Duran at third base in the top of the fifth, when Boston had runners at the corners and one out. A sacrifice fly would have cut the deficit to 2-1, but the Red Sox weren’t about to test Gallo’s arm in third, and after he delivered a missile to home plate, it may have been the right move.
“That’s one of the best defensive outfielders in the big leagues,” Cora said. “We had second and third after that. He has a cannon, we have the scouting report, and you have to be very careful in that situation. We prepare for situations like that, so I was actually 100 percent with Carlos and Jared on that one.”
Boston was held scoreless in the finale of the doubleheader, and now, if the season were to end on Wednesday morning, the Red Sox would miss the playoffs. After sitting nine games back almost exactly a month ago, the Yanks are even with Boston, holding the edge in percentage points, proving that this is not the same group that limped out of the gate through the first three months of the season.
“One thing they’ve done throughout the season is that they can pitch,” Cora said. “They’ve done it throughout. Obviously they had some rough patches with that, but I think overall, their rotation is solid, the bullpen is good, and when you pitch, you give yourself a chance to win ballgames, and that’s what they’ve done.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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