NEW YORK (AP) – A couple of things have remained constant for the New York Yankees all season: They keep getting hurt and they keep winning games.
Aaron Judge and Gio Urshela homered early as a makeshift Yankees lineup pounded David Price in a 7-4 victory Sunday night that sent the defending World Series champion Boston Red Sox to their eighth consecutive defeat.
But no pleasure comes without pain for the AL East leaders these days. All-Star second baseman Gleyber Torres was lifted in the late innings because of a core issue and sent to the hospital for tests.
Urshela was replaced at third base in the ninth, a few innings after fouling a ball hard off each leg in a span of three pitches.
“It’s been a crazy year in that way, with the amount of things that have happened to guys physically,” manager Aaron Boone said. “But it’s also been something that’s been a real rallying cry for us.”
X-rays on Urshela were negative, though he had both legs wrapped after the game. He said he was feeling better and planned to travel with the team to Baltimore.
With only three projected regulars in the batting order, the banged-up Yankees won their fifth straight and completed the first four-game sweep of their longtime rivals since August 2009. New York (72-39) maintained its eight-game division lead over Tampa Bay and dropped the third-place Red Sox a whopping 14 1/2 behind — not to mention 6 1/2 games out of a playoff spot.
“That’s what we’re supposed to do. We’re a first-place team,” Judge said. “We just went out there and took care of business. It doesn’t matter who we play.”
Boston has lost eight in a row for the first time since an eight-game skid in July 2015. And at 59-55, the Red Sox have already lost more games than they did all last season while going 108-54.
“Overall, a horrible week,” manager Alex Cora said. “There’s no doubt in my mind these guys can turn it around.”
Handed a 7-0 lead after three innings, J.A. Happ (9-6) improved to 10-4 against the Red Sox, who finished 1-8 in the Bronx this year and are 4-11 in the season series. He beat Price in a matchup of starting pitchers who just came off paternity leave.
The rollicking sellout crowd of 47,267 gave a struggling Price (7-5) the Pedro Martínez treatment, chanting “Who’s your daddy?” during his latest flop at Yankee Stadium.
“I wasn’t going to miss this start. That wasn’t going to happen,” Price said.
In the Yankees clubhouse after the game, Happ addressed his teammates with a message to keep moving forward regardless of all the injuries.
“This whole team is tough. Everyone’s tough. We know what we’ve been through, so I think that motivates a lot of us,” Judge said. “We know how hard it is. We know how beat up everybody is. We’ve got to stay in there and keep fighting.”
