Yankees vs. Red Sox score: New York gets another series win against rivals thanks to home runs

The Yankees and Red Sox continued their three-game set on Saturday night

The New York Yankees defeated the Boston Red Sox, 5-2, in the second of a three-game set in the Bronx. The offense was mostly quiet for both clubs near the end of the game. But once again, all of New York's runs came via home runs. The Yankees won Friday night's series opener, 5-1. The Yankees walk away with their fifth straight win and are now 6-1, sporting the best record in baseball. Let's take a look at some things that stood out in this one.

Tanaka makes season debut

After Tanaka suffered a scary hit in the head from a line drive off teammate Giancarlo Stanton's bat during a simulated game in the Yankees "Spring Training 2.0," he was placed on the injured list with a concussion. Entering Saturday's start, Tanaka sported a new hat, one that's lined with a protective insert. Tanaka was on a pitch-limit tonight since he'll still need to work back up his stamina. The right-hander looked solid through his first two innings but faced some trouble in the third where he gave up a walk, single and RBI double. His final line:

Tanaka mostly relied on his fastball (92.9 mph average) for 30 of his 51 pitches and used his patented slider and splitter to get swinging strikes.

Last season, Tanaka went 11-9 with a 4.45 ERA in a career-high 32 appearances. He became the second pitcher in Yankees history to reach double-digit wins in each of his first six MLB seasons, joining Andy Pettitte.

Judge, Urshela continue to power offense

The Yankees 2020 lineup continues to live up to its Bronx Bombers moniker. In Saturday's win — for the second straight night — all of the Yankees runs came from home runs. In fact, each of the Yankees' last 17 runs scored have come via homers. 

On Saturday, those runs came from an Aaron Judge 455-foot long solo shot and a Gio Urshela grand slam. For Judge, it's the first time in his career that he has homered in four straight games. Urshela's second-inning bomb was his first career grand slam.

Red Sox starters still struggle

It's been a downfall for the Red Sox rotation since the 2018 World Series championship season. As our R.J. Anderson outlined, Boston's rotation is not good this season, and it may just be on the way to becoming the worst rotation in baseball in 2020. Boston's starter on Saturday, right-hander Zack Godley gave up five runs on six hits (3 1/3 innings) in his outing.

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The Yankees and Red Sox will square off again Sunday night for the series finale. First pitch is set for 7:08 p.m. ET. Lefty James Paxton will face right-hander Phillips Valdez.

[Aug 1, 2020 at 10:18 pm ET · Katherine Acquavella]

New York holds the best record in baseball. They're 6-1.

[Aug 1, 2020 at 10:18 pm ET · Katherine Acquavella]

The Yankees get the W.
5-2 final score.

[Aug 1, 2020 at 9:55 pm ET · Katherine Acquavella]

Heading to the bottom of the 8th and it's 5-2 Yankees. Again, all of the Yankees runs have been scored via home runs.

[Aug 1, 2020 at 8:47 pm ET · Katherine Acquavella]

5-2, Yankees after four.

[Aug 1, 2020 at 8:13 pm ET · Katherine Acquavella]

In his season debut, here's Tanaka's final line: 2.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 3 K. 51 pitches.

[Aug 1, 2020 at 8:12 pm ET · Katherine Acquavella]

Avilan gets Mitch Moreland to strikeout swinging for the final out of the third.

[Aug 1, 2020 at 8:10 pm ET · Katherine Acquavella]

Tanaka's night is over. Lefty Luis Avilan enters the game.

[Aug 1, 2020 at 8:09 pm ET · Katherine Acquavella]

Tanaka getting into some trouble here. The Red Sox get two runs on the board via Xander Bogaerts two-run RBI.

[Aug 1, 2020 at 7:53 pm ET · Katherine Acquavella]

The Red Sox rotation in 2020 has been bad. One of the worst in baseball, actually. Our R.J. Anderson took a closer look.

[Aug 1, 2020 at 7:48 pm ET · Katherine Acquavella]

This game's getting blown open. Grand slam for Gio Urshela. First pitch. 5-0 Yanks.

[Aug 1, 2020 at 7:25 pm ET · Katherine Acquavella]

Judge goes long for his fourth homer of the season. It's the first time in his career he's homered in four straight games.

[Aug 1, 2020 at 7:13 pm ET · Katherine Acquavella]

Tanaka kicks off Saturday night's game with a strikeout. A reminder, Tanaka's making his season debut tonight. He landed on the injured list (concussion) after a scary hit-by-pitch off Giancarlo Stanton's bat during the Yankees spring training 2.0.

[Aug 1, 2020 at 6:10 pm ET · Katherine Acquavella]

First pitch is at 7:07 p.m. ET.

[Aug 1, 2020 at 6:07 pm ET · Katherine Acquavella]

Come join us for live updates and analysis of tonight's Yankees-Red Sox game.