D.J. LeMahieu homered twice off an enraged Chris Sale, who screamed and pointed at the plate umpire when he was removed during a seven-run fourth inning, and the Yankees beat the Red Sox, 9-2, on Saturday afternoon in a doubleheader opener that extended Boston’s longest losing streak since 2015 to six games.
Sale was angry with Mike Estabrook’s strike zone throughout his brief outing and tied his career high by allowing eight earned runs in three and two-thirds innings. Sale was ejected soon after Red Sox Manager Alex Cora and fell to 0-4 with a 9.90 earned run average against the Yankees this season.
After winning the first three games of a four-game series against the Yankees at Fenway Park last weekend, Boston fell 12½ games behind the American League East-leading Yankees and four and a half games back of second-place Tampa Bay. The Red Sox have 53 defeats, one short of their total on the way to a World Series title last year, and dropped to 4-9 against New York this season.
Domingo German (14-2) allowed five hits in seven innings, including homers to Andrew Benintendi in the second and Jackie Bradley Jr. in the fifth. He improved to 8-0 against the A.L. East this year and became the first Yankees pitcher to last seven innings since C. C. Sabathia on July 6.
New York is 41-18 at Yankee Stadium and clinched its 28th winning home record, second among big-league teams to a 47-year streak for the Yankees from 1918 to 1964.
LeMahieu homered on Sale’s fifth pitch and hit a three-run homer for a 7-1 lead. Sale (5-11) appeared to have lost his composure. He was 29-12 with a 2.56 E.R.A. for the Red Sox when he signed a $160 million, six-year contract in March but has a 4.68 E.R.A. since.
After J.D. Martinez took a called third strike on a full-count pitch ending the top of the first — barking at Estabrook — LeMahieu homered leading off the bottom half.
Sale got increasingly agitated during the fourth, then the Yankees took a 2-1 lead on four singles, the last by the No. 8 hitter Breyvic Valera.
Cora, not the pitching coach Dana LeVangie, went to the mound, talked to Sale and then cursed at Estabrook. Immediately tossed, Cora pointed nearly two dozen times at various Yankees runners and the plate, accusing Estabrook between profanities of missing at least five strike calls.
Left-handed-hitting Brett Gardner fell behind, 0-2, against the 30-year-old left-hander, worked the count even and hit a two-run single up the middle. The Yankees nearly got another run on Bradley’s overthrow from center field because Sale forgot to back up the plate. Four pitches later, LeMahieu lined a changeup in the first row of the right-field seats for his career-best 17th home run and third multiple-homer game.
Aaron Judge followed with a double, and when the bench coach Ron Roenicke went to the mound to change pitchers, Sale shouted at Estabrook from a distance.
Edwin Encarnacion added a pair of R.B.I. singles for the Yankees, then was hit on the right wrist by Josh Smith in the eighth.
Extra Bases
Bob Costas made his YES Network debut, filling in as Michael Kay recovers from vocal cord surgery and Kay’s regular replacement, Ryan Ruocco, had another commitment.