The Boston Red Sox tightened their grip on the American League wild-card race by sweeping the first two games of their four-game set at Yankee Stadium, pushing their winning streak against the New York Yankees to eight and taking eight of the clubs’ nine meetings this season. Brayan Bello opened the weekend with a 1-0 victory on Friday night, limiting New York to three singles in a performance local media described as historically dominant for a Red Sox pitcher in the Bronx. Boston followed with a 12-1 drubbing on Saturday afternoon. Left-hander Garrett Crochet fanned 11 over six shutout innings, while Trevor Story homered and Masataka Yoshida added two hits as the visitors sent 11 men to the plate in a seven-run ninth inning. The back-to-back wins dropped New York further behind Boston in the wild-card standings and sparked fresh criticism of a Yankees club that has been outscored 40-10 during its skid against its oldest rival.