BOSTON — The uniforms and the names are the same. Everything else — including the landscape above the upper lip — about the Yankees has dramatically changed since the initial week of the season.
Sunday night at Fenway Park, the Yankees topped the Red Sox 8-5 in front of 33,198 customers. Their 13th win in 16 games enabled the 16-9 Yankees to sweep a three-game series from their blood rivals, increase their AL East lead to three lengths and send a message to the rest of the division their recent solid stretch of play isn’t a fluke.
Adding spice to baseball’s best rivalry, Yankees starter Adam Warren plunked Hanley Ramirez in the sixth and the Red Sox responded two inning later when Edward Mujica hit Jacoby Ellsbury with a 3-0 pitch after the center fielder had singled in each of his first four at-bats. Plate umpire Jeff Nelson then issued a warning to both benches as CC Sabathia walked out of the Yankees’ third-base dugout to stare at Mujica, and the Yankees’ bullpen was poised to enter the action if it escalated.
“We believe in ourselves and things have been going our way,’’ said Brett Gardner, whose three-run homer in the sixth had stretched the Yankees’ lead to 8-0. “For the most part, we’ve been playing pretty clean baseball.’’
The sweep was the Yankees’ first inside New England’s living room of three games or more since August 2006, when the visitors swept a five-game series.
With an eight-run lead after 5 ¹/₃ innings and Warren having retired the first two batters in the home half of the frame, it appeared the meat of the Yankees’ vaunted bullpen was going to get the night off.
Five Red Sox runs in the sixth forced Yankees manager Joe Girardi to use Esmil Rogers, Justin Wilson and David Carpenter, and the visitors held a three-run edge going to the ninth.
Armed with that cushion, Andrew Miller issued two walks and watched Dustin Pedroia reach on Chase Headley’s fielding error to load the bases for Yankee killer David Ortiz.
“I wasn’t happy with the way we got there but we got there,’’ said Miller, who posted his 10th save in as many chances by getting Ortiz to hit a liner to Ellsbury — who went 4-for-4, reached on a walk and was hit by a pitch.
Mark Teixeira hit a two-run homer in the first off Joe Kelly.
Warren (2-1) cruised through the first five frames. and allowed one hit. But after retiring the first two batters in the sixth, Pedroia singled, Ortiz doubled, Ramirez was annoyed about getting hit in the hip area and Pablo Sandoval singled.
Enter Rogers with two on, and he gave up a homer to the previously ice-cold Mike Napoli that shaved the Yankees’ lead to 8-5.
Rogers walked Daniel Nava and gave up an infield single to Xander Bogaerts before Blake Swihart couldn’t check a swing and fanned for the inning’s final out. Rogers was replaced by Wilson with two outs and the bases empty in the seventh, and watched Gardner make a diving catch of Ortiz’s liner to left.
Knowing how much Ortiz has hurt the Yankees in key moments, Miller still believed he couldn’t play around with the left-handed hitter, even though the Yankees had a three-run lead.
“I didn’t have a choice, I have to go after him,’’ Miller said. “I had to find a way at that point. It had snowballed enough.’’