The Boston Red Sox tightened their grip on an American League wild-card berth with back-to-back victories at Yankee Stadium that pushed their season dominance over the New York Yankees to eight straight games and clinched the rivals’ season series. On Friday night, Brayan Bello allowed only three singles across seven innings and Alex Verdugo’s early RBI stood up in a 1–0 decision, marking Boston’s seventh consecutive win against New York and its fourth shutout of the Yankees this year. A day later the Red Sox turned the matchup into a rout, pounding the Yankees 12–1. Left-hander Garrett Crochet fanned 11, surpassing 500 career strikeouts and taking the major-league lead with 207 this season. Trevor Story doubled in two runs and launched his 20th homer as Boston scored seven times in the ninth inning to seal the club’s most lopsided win in the Bronx since 2015. The sweep of the first two games moved Boston to 71-59 and 1½ games ahead of New York (69-60) in the AL wild-card race. Since losing the series opener on 6 June, the Red Sox have outscored the Yankees 53–16, including Friday’s 1–0 gem and Saturday’s blowout, while holding Aaron Judge and company to a .188 average.