Yankees Bomb Red Sox Out of the Bronx, Postseason

Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images NEW YORK — Lefty? Righty? The platoon-heavy Yankees will beat your frontline starter regardless of handedness, and their frontline starter will shut your offense down. That was the case, at least, in this year’s Wild Card Series between the Yankees and the Red Sox. After fireballing righty Cam Schlittler overwhelmed Boston in Tuesday night’s opener, lefty Max Fried stifled the Sox for six innings on Wednesday. Meanwhile, a lineup stacked with eight lefty hitters — and again, no Aaron Judge — pressed Red Sox manager Chad Tracy to pull starter Sonny Gray after just 70 pitches, trailing 1-0. As on Tuesday night, the Yankees broke the game open against Boston’s lefty relievers. New York cruised to a 9-2 victory and a series sweep. As he did in Game 1 of the 2025 Wild Card Series against the Red Sox, Fried pitched brilliantly. He held Boston scoreless through the first five innings on just two hits before allowing a solo home run to Willson Contreras with two outs in the sixth. It wasn’t just Boston’s first home run of the series, it was the team’s first run in a playoff game since the sixth inning of Game 2 of last year’s series, a span of 26 2/3 innings. Fried struck out six while walking one; though he got just nine whiffs (18.8%) and a 23.5% called strike and whiff rate, he allowed just three hard-hit balls and an average exit velocity of 85.3 mph. He threw 98 pitches, and when the Yankees broke through for six runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, it was an easy call for manager Aaron Boone to go to his bullpen. With Judge sidelined by a right calf strain, the Yankees opted to carry 16 position players and just 10 pitchers for the best-of-three series. Particularly given Boston’s lefty-heavy pitching staff, this roster construction allowed the Yankees to counter by platooning at four positions. Against lefty Payton Tolle, the only lefties in the New York lineup were Ben Rice, Cody Bellinger, and Spencer Jones, but against Gray, Boone plugged in Luis Garcia Jr. for Paul Goldschmidt at first base, Jazz Chisholm Jr. for Anthony Volpe at second base, Trent Grisham in center for Heliot Ramos in right (with Jones shifting from center to right), and Ryan McMahon for Amed Rosario at third base. All four contributed to the Yankees’ 14-hit attack, with García going 3-for-5, including a solo homer off Gray; Chisholm 2-for-3 with a walk, two stolen bases, and two runs scored; Grisham 2-for-3 with a pivotal bunt single, a walk, and a run scored; and McMahon 1-for-3 with an RBI groundout. Bellinger went 2-for-4 with an RBI single, against a lefty, and a three-run homer off righty Garrett Whitlock, and Austin Wells drove in a pair of runs on a single and sacrifice fly.FanGraphs Playoff Coverage Is for MembersYou must be a Member in order to read our postseason coverage. You can read our announcement here, but it's not the only reason you should consider becoming a Member. Membership includes:✓Ad-free browsing✓Unlimited FanGraphs & RotoGraphs articles✓Historical & platoon projections✓Leaderboard & player-page stat heatmaps✓One-click data exports✓Customizable player-page dashboards✓Dark & Classic site modes✓Weekly Members-only mailbag✓FanGraphs Walk-Off, your year in review✓Optional homepage photo removal✓Gift articles to non-Members✓Full postseason coverage