BOSTON -- The New York Yankees' six-game road trip could hardly have ended on a better note than with Wednesday's 13-8 blowout of the Boston Red Sox, which gave them five wins in the six games. And if the Cleveland Indians can beat the Toronto Blue Jays tonight, the Yankees will return home a mere half-game behind in the American League East race.
The hitting came alive on this trip, albeit against some pretty poor pitching. Still, it's tough to knock a trip in which the club scored 15 runs one game, 20 in another and 13 Wednesday. The Yankees hit five home runs to take a 12-1 lead after 4 2/3 innings.
As for the pitching? Well ... Masahiro Tanaka was just OK, Dellin Betances, pressed into emergency duty, did his job, and Justin Wilson retired the only batter he faced. But things got ugly late as Andrew Bailey, making his first big league appearance in more than two years, struggled with his control and Bryan Mitchell, in his second appearance since being hit by a line drive on Aug. 17, was ineffective. Manager Joe Girardi went to Caleb Cotham to pitch the ninth, but after he allowed doubles to the first two hitters to close the gap to 13-8, Girardi decided to bring on his closer, Andrew Miller, who got hit with a comebacker in a near disaster but survived to get the final outs.
Kid power: The Yankees got back-to-back second-inning homers from the two youngest players in their lineup, 22-year-old Greg Bird and 24-year-old John Ryan Murphy. Bird, playing in place of the injured Mark Teixeira, lined one into the right-field seats just beyond Pesky Pole with Chase Headley (walk) on base to make it 2-1 Yankees, and Murphy lofted one over the Green Monster to make it 3-1.
Batted around: The Yankees chased Red Sox starter Henry Owens before the second inning was done, sending nine men to the plate against him. In addition to the two home runs, the Yanks got a single from Didi Gregorius, a double from Stephen Drew and a bases-loaded shot off the wall by Chris Young that only scored one run because Drew held up at third, apparently thinking the ball might be caught, causing Brett Gardner (walk) to be caught in a rundown. Alex Rodriguez then lined one down the left-field line that hit the stands and took a right turn across the outfield, scoring two more runs. Owens was replaced by Ryan Cook, whose first pitch was served over the left-field fence by Carlos Beltran for two more runs. When the smoke cleared, the Yankees had an 8-1 lead.
Steamin' Drew: Drew continued his red-hot hitting in the third, smoking a 2-2 pitch into the lower right-field seats with two men on to extend the Yankees' lead to 11-1, and raise his average to .209. His 17 home runs are the second-most by an AL second baseman this season; only the Twins' Brian Dozier (26) has more.
Hot diggity: Another hot-hitting Yankee, Didi Gregorius, hit a solo HR in the fifth inning, accounting for the Yankees' 12th run.
Monstrous: Mookie Betts just missed depositing Tanaka's second pitch of the game into the Green Monster seats, but had to settle for a leadoff double when the ball hit about three feet from the top of the wall. Three batters later, David Ortiz lined a ground-rule double that one-hopped into the right-field seats to give Boston a 1-0 lead.
Rude welcome: Andrew Bailey took the mound in relief of Tanaka in his first big league game since July 12, 2013, when he pitched for, coincidentally, the Red Sox. Bailey faced four batters in the seventh, walked the first two, surrendered a sacrifice fly to Pablo Sandoval and an RBI single to Xander Bogaerts before giving way to Justin Wilson.
The first Noel: The game was so one-sided that Rico Noel, called up to be a pinch-runner, was inserted into the game in right field, replacing Beltran, to start the seventh inning. Noel handled no chances in the field, and when his turn in the batting order came around, Girardi pulled him back for pinch-hitter Jose Pirela, despite having a 12-5 lead at the time.
Next: The Yankees have a day off before embarking on a run of 13 straight games, 10 at home, starting with three against the Tampa Bay Rays this weekend at Yankee Stadium. No pitching matchups yet but Girardi said Luis Severino (2-2, 2.17) will start the opener Friday night.