Yankees swept the Rays at Steinbrenner Field and have won five straight and seven of eight, securing three consecutive series victories. The team returns to Yankee Stadium carrying momentum into a pivotal four-game set against the Red Sox. Boston won five of the first six meetings and swept a June series at Fenway, and overtook New York during the Yankees' August slide. New York now leads Boston by 1.5 games, making this series critical to the Wild Card standings. Luis Gil will start Thursday after a five-inning scoreless outing in St. Louis; Boston's offense remains dangerous despite Rafael Devers' absence, with Alex Bregman back and Roman Anthony posting a .400 on-base percentage.
The Yankees wrapped up a two-game sweep of the Rays at Steinbrenner Field and return home having reemerged from their midseason malaise. With wins in five consecutive and seven of their last eight games across three straight series wins, the Bombers will bring some momentum to Yankee Stadium and begin a four-game set with the archrival and Wild Card neighbor Red Sox, in what promises to be one of the most pivotal series of the season.
The rivalry series has unfortunately been quite one-sided through their first two meetings: the Red Sox have taken five of the first six from the Yankees including a demoralizing weekend sweep at Fenway Park in mid-June. That series foreshadowed more grim days in store for the then-first-place Bombers, and by the time their backslide reached its most dire point on August 10th, the Red Sox had passed them in the standings.
Gil's third start of the season was a Houdini act of sorts in St. Louis, in which he used a succession of double plays to get around some early traffic. He completed five scoreless innings before hitting some choppy waters in the sixth and ultimately being relieved by Mark Leiter Jr. It was still enough for Gil's first win of the season and another step in the right direction for the 27-year-old righty, who now gets his toughest assignment yet.
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