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Yankees tie for AL East lead With win over red sox

NEW YORK — There were no spikes-up slides, no retributive fastballs in the back and no bench-clearing brawls when the Boston Red Sox rolled into Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night.

The win was the 16th in 17 games for the Yankees and pulled them into a first-place tie with the RedSox, the team they have been chasing since the first Sunday of the regular season.

Judge gave the Yankees a 3-2 lead in the seventh when he delivered a bases-loaded single to left off reliever Joe Kelly, much to the delight of the a fully engaged crowd.

Kelly, who entered after HeathHembree had loaded the bases with one out earlier in the seventh, had become a heel to Yankees fans after he drilled Tyler Austin with a 98-mph fastball last month — a punishment that Kelly delivered after Austin clipped shortstop Brock Holt with his spikes on a slide earlier in the game.

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When a Boston reporter suggested to Red Sox designated hitter J.D. Martinez — who was wearing a “Joe Kelly Fight Club” T-shirt before the game — that Kelly might be the second most despised figure in New York behind disgraced former Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, Martinez did not disagree.

“It should be exciting when he comes out of the bullpen,” Martinez said.

Judge fouled Kelly’s first pitch in the air just beyond the first-base dugout, but it drifted back far enough that Red Sox first baseman Hanley Ramirez had no play. Judge then took a fastball for a ball before grounding a slider into left. Neil Walker scored, but Gleyber Torres, trying to score from second, was thrown out at the plate — as was Stanton an inning later.

But three runs were enough for the Yankees, who throughout the last week have repeatedly made the right play at the right moment.

Their winning rally Tuesday started after Walker’s dribbler along the first-base line rolled barely foul. He followed with a double into the right-field corner. After Torres walked, Hembree was called for a balk and then walked Brett Gardner ahead of Judge’s single.

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Stanton, who led off the second and fourth innings with home runs that appeared to take advantage of the dimensions of Yankee Stadium, recorded his third multi-homer game of the season.

The Yankees’ starter, Luis Severino, did not seem as invulnerable as he did in last week’s masterpiece in Houston, but he was not far from it. He allowed six hits, struck out 11 and for the second consecutive game did not walk a batter. Severino’s only clean inning came in the sixth when he sandwiched a pop out by Xander Bogaerts between two strikeouts.

Judge helped Severino’s cause in the third when he retrieved Christian Vazquez’s leadoff hit in the right field corner and calmly threw a one-hop strike to shortstop Didi Gregorius, whose glove was waiting for the ball — and Vazquez’s outstretched arms — inches above the bag.

Although Judge came to Severino’s aid, not all the Yankees’ defenders followed suit. Torres booted a routine grounder at second base by Ramirez in the first, and catcher Gary Sanchez could not get down to block a slider in the dirt that Eduardo Nunez swung at for a third strike to lead off the fifth inning.

The ball skipped past Sanchez, leaving him with no chance to throw out Nunez before he reached first.

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The mistake seemed of little consequence when Severino fanned the next two batters, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Vasquez. But Mookie Betts followed by lining a 2-1 slider to center field for a base hit bringing to the plate Andrew Benintendi, who hit two homers off Severino in a game here last August and carried a .500 career average against him entering Tuesday.

Benintendi took a 100-mph fastball off the edge of the plate to run the count full. He then looped a change-up into center field, scoring Nunez and sending Betts to third. Severino fell behind Ramirez by 3-0 before getting him to foul off a pair of change-ups. Ramirez grounded the next pitch, a 99.7-mph fastball up the middle, but Torres was stationed right behind second base and easily threw him out.

The Red Sox got even when Severino was out of the game. After Nunez reached on an infield hit when Austin could not scoop Gregorius’ one-hop throw to begin the seventh, manager Aaron Boone turned to his bullpen.

David Robertson struck out Bradley and retired Vazquez on a fly ball to center. But after Nunez stole second on a two-strike pitch, Betts lofted a liner down the left-field line that dropped in front of Gardner, who dived but could neither catch nor corral the ball, which bounced away from him for a triple.

The score was tied at 2-2, but Robertson averted further damage by striking out Benintendi to escape and give Judge a chance to win it.

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Aroldis Chapman then worked the ninth, allowing one base runner on a hit-by-pitch before recording his eighth save of the season.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

BILLY WITZ © 2018 The New York Times

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