BOSTON — Postseason strategy has already begun, with the Yankees mapping out plans for their top two starters.
Gerrit Cole and Masahiro Tanaka learned Saturday they would each be granted an extra day of rest heading into their final regular-season starts.
Due to make his fifth MLB start Sunday, rookie Deivi Garcia has already been elevated into the playoff rotation conversation.
Yet, here was J.A. Happ again on Saturday night, quietly and efficiently reminding everyone he’s capable of any October assignment.
Happ blazed through eight scoreless innings against the Red Sox, doing his part to extend the Yankees’ winning streak to 10 games with an 8-0 victory at quiet Fenway Park.
The veteran lefty yielded just four hits with no walks and nine strikeouts in a 113-pitch performance.
Over his last six starts, Happ has pitched to a 1.93 ERA.
In the Yankees’ latest victory against their withered rivals, Clint Frazier homered and drove in three runs while AL MVP candidate Luke Voit drew new concerns about his vague foot issue.
On what appeared to be a sure RBI double in the fifth, scoring Brett Gardner (2 for 4), Voit hobbled across first base and remained there.
Moments later, Voit jogged home with a noticeable limp on Frazier’s two-run shot off reliever Dylan Covey.
But Voit remained in the game at first base as the Yankees (31-21) lowered their magic number to one for clinching a postseason spot.
Aided by two errors from shortstop Xander Bogaerts, leading to two unearned runs in the fourth, it was the Yanks’ 12th straight win against the Red Sox (19-34) dating to July 2019.
That matches their longest such streak in franchise history, last accomplished by Casey Stengel’s Yankees between 1952-53.
Sunday, the Yanks will attempt to make it a clean 10-game sweep of the Sox in 2020 in their season series finale.
Saturday’s win also extended MLB’s longest current stretch of winning seasons (28) for the Yankees, dating to 1993.
Before the game, manager Aaron Boone said that Cole would likely start Tuesday on one day of extra rest, with Tanaka following suit Wednesday in their next series against the Toronto Blue Jays.
“Giving them the extra day this time,” Boone said. “And having an extra day into a postseason scenario, I think is the best way to go for both of those guys.”
A best-of-three first round series would begin Sept. 29 for the Yankees, setting up Tanaka and Cole to come back on potentially six days of rest as starters for Games 1 and 2.
There are no off dates when the best-of-five Division Series and best-of-seven League Championship Series are played at neutral sites.
So, if the Yankees advance beyond the first round, they’ll require the full depth of their rotation, bringing Happ, Jordan Montgomery and Jonathan Loaisiga prominently into play.
Boone elected to rest Gary Sanchez from Saturday’s starting lineup, one night after going 2 for 5 with his second double and homer in as many nights.
The manager planned to rest his slugging catcher in one of these weekend games at Fenway and after Friday’s nearly five-hour, 12-inning win, “it becomes a pretty easy call for me,” Boone said.
Gleyber Torres, Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Hicks were also rested against Boston righty starter Chris Mazza, who lasted four innings and exited trailing 4-0.
Aaron Judge (0 for 2, two walks) served as designated hitter and “checked out fine” according to Boone, after his right fielder tangled with a low wall on a dropped foul pop late Friday night.
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