G135: Red Sox 4, Yankees 1

Red Sox - 002 010 100 - 4  7  0
Yankees - 100 000 000 - 1  4  0

Doug Fister (7-4-1-1-5, 98) is on a roll, with a 2.83 ERA over his last six starts. And in his last three outings, he has pitched 23 innings and allowed only four runs and 10 hits (1.57 ERA).

And his teammates, who are last in the American League in home runs, belted three dongs off Sonny Gray (7-5-4-1-9, 98) and cruised to a 4-1 win on Friday night. Boston re-established its 5.5-game lead in the East, and will send its two best pitchers in the last two games of the series, Drew Pomeranz and Chris Sale.

Eduardo Nunez lined a two-run homer to left in the third, following a walk to Brock Holt. Andrew Benintendi crushed a solo shot to right in the fifth and Hanley Ramirez poked an opposite-field blast to right-center in the seventh.

Fister and relievers Addison Reed and Craig Kimbrel silenced the Yankees' bats. Things did not look good when Brett Gardner and Aaron Judge hit back-to-back doubles to start the first inning. But New York would manage only three other baserunners for the rest of the game: a single to center by Jacoby Ellsbury in the second, a walk to Greg Bird in the fourth, and a bunt against the shift by Chase Headley in the seventh. And none of those three runners would advance past first base.

Dustin Pedroia was a welcome sight in the infield, and he made two dynamite plays, both against Ellsbury. In the fourth, Pedroia ranged far to his left to glove a grounder that had gotten past Moreland. Fister alertly sprinted to the bag and was actually waiting for FY's throw. In the seventh, Ellsbury lined a shot that caromed off Moreland and went right to Pedroia who was moving to his left. He tossed the ball back to Moreland for the easy out. (Videos here.)

Doug Fister / Sonny Gray

Nunez, SS
Benintendi, CF
Betts, RF
Moreland, 1B
Pedroia, 2B
Devers, 3B
Ramirez, DH
Leon, C
Holt, LF

Scott Lauber, ESPN: "Xander Bogaerts, still dealing with sore right hand, sitting tonight for Red Sox. He's 2-for-23 with 10 strikeouts in last six games; batted .227/.312/.371 in August; .201/.276/.299 since getting hit on right hand on July 6 at Tampa Bay."

Dustin Pedroia returns to the lineup tonight. He has played in only one game since July 28, going 0-for-4 on August 8 against Tampa Bay.

Since David Price went back on the disabled list, Doug Fister has a 3.41 ERA in five starts.

Looking at Boston's OPS+ stats, I'm shocked that no one is over 108. Andrew Benintendi leads the team (108), with Pedroia at 106 and Mitch Moreland at 105. (Rafael Devers and Eduardo Nunez are both at 130, but have much fewer plate appearances.) The Red Sox's team OPS+ of 94 is 12th out of 15 AL teams.

September Roster Expansion: The Red Sox have called up catcher Blake Swihart, first baseman Sam Travis, and pitchers Roenis Elias and Austin Maddox.

Ian Browne's preview states: "Including the postseason, Fister has pitched four times at Yankee Stadium in his career, going 1-2 with a 3.91 ERA." ... This information is completely worthless, but it is sort of interesting that three of his four starts came in the postseason (two in 2011 and one in 2012). I looked at this initially because I thought Browne may have combined stats from two different stadiums, but Fister debuted in 2009, the same year as Yankee Stadium III opened, so never mind.