Nathan Eovaldi pitched finely until the eighth inning, Adam Ottavino came out of a couple of traffic jams at the end of the match and the Boston Red Sox beat the New York Yankees 4-2 on Saturday, improving to 5-0 this season against longtime rivals.
Now, Boston will seek to sweep the Yankees this year in the last game of the series tomorrow.
It was a night of redemption for Eovaldi (8-4), who was coming off his shortest performance of 2021 in which he threw ball for just four innings in Kansas City.
He was calmer in Fenway Park, keeping its fastball at 90 miles per hour while allowing a run and seven hits, did not walk and struck out six in seven two-thirds innings.
Eovaldi left the game after DJ LeMahieu hit a home run that made it 4-1 in the eighth. After Hirokazu Sawamura entered and walked three to load the bases with two outs, Ottavino ended the threat after Luke Voit missed with a ground ball.
Ottavino made his own mess in the ninth, and LeMahieu hit an RBI single with two outs. But with two running backs in position, Ottavino struck out Aaron Judge for his fifth save in eight chances.
Jordan Montgomery (3-2) took the loss, after giving up three runs on eight hits, passing two walks and striking out five.
For the Yankees, the Dominicans Gary Sánchez 3-1; Miguel Andújar 3-0. Colombian Gio Urshela 4-0. The Venezuelan Gleyber Torres 4-1.