Yankees beat Red Sox 9-2, sweep Wild Card Series and advance to face Rays

The New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 9-2 at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday, September 30, completing a two-game sweep of their American League Wild Card Series. After a 9-0 opener, New York scored nine again in Game 2 and eliminated its rival without needing a deciding game.

Cody Bellinger drove in four runs, including three on a sixth-inning home run. Max Fried allowed one run on three hits over six innings, struck out six and earned the win. MLB's final game feed lists Sonny Gray as the losing pitcher.

New York led 2-0 after five innings. Luis García Jr. had opened the scoring with a fourth-inning solo home run, and Bellinger added an RBI single in the fifth. Boston's Willson Contreras homered in the top of the sixth to cut the lead to one.

The sixth inning broke it open

The Yankees answered with six runs in the bottom half. George Lombard Jr. singled in one, Austin Wells lifted a sacrifice fly and Ryan McMahon brought home another run on a groundout. Bellinger's three-run homer then pushed the lead to 8-1. It was the inning that turned a narrow game into a series-clinching one.

Fried's six innings mattered because the lineup did not break through immediately. He kept Boston to one run while New York worked its way through the first five innings, then handed the bullpen a seven-run lead. The Red Sox added a Nick Sogard solo homer in the seventh; the Yankees answered with a Wells RBI single in the bottom half.

Fried gave the lineup time

Bellinger's four RBIs led a 14-hit Yankees attack. García collected three hits, while Bellinger, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Trent Grisham had two each. New York's two wins came by a combined 18-2 score, but Game 2 was still a one-run contest before the sixth-inning surge.

The Yankees now move to an AL Division Series against the Tampa Bay Rays. MLB's schedule lists New York at Tampa Bay for Game 1 on Saturday, October 3. The Wild Card sweep is complete; the next matchup begins a new series, and its details should be checked again before first pitch.