Mitch Moreland hit a three-run home run and seven pitchers combined to allow just three hits to lead the Boston Red Sox to a 6-1 victory over the Yankees on Friday.
Xander Bogaerts added a two-run double and Moreland had two singles for the Red Sox, who won for the 13th time in their past 19 games. But the defending World Series champions remained 6 1/2 games out of the American League’s second wild-card spot with 21 games to play.
Brett Gardner homered for the A.L. East-leading Yankees, who lost for just the third time in 11 games. The Yankees’ lead atop the division dropped to 8 1/2 games over the Rays, who defeated the Blue Jays 5-0 at home.
Yankees starter Domingo Germán (17-4) allowed five runs in 4 1/3 innings, yielding three hits with four walks and five strikeouts in his bid to become the major leagues’ first 18-game winner.
Marcus Walden (9-2), Boston’s third pitcher, threw a scoreless inning for the victory.
Boston moved ahead 4-0, scoring all the runs with two outs in the fourth. Brock Holt had an R.B.I. single on a grounder that took a bad hop past second baseman Gleyber Torres before Moreland hooked his homer around the Pesky Pole.
Bogaerts’s two-run double off the Green Monster came in the bottom of the fifth off reliever Nestor Cortes Jr.