Yankees vs. Red Sox score, takeaways: New York's offense comes up huge in another win over AL East rivals

The Yankees are now 5-0 vs. the Red Sox this season

On Saturday night in the Bronx, the Yankees defeated the Red Sox, 11-5, in the second game of the four-game set. The Yankees took the opener by a score of 10-3, and they occupy first place in the American League East. Meanwhile, the Red Sox -- mostly be design -- have been one of the worst teams in baseball thus far in 2020. Now, Boston has lost all five of its games vs. New York this season and have lost their last six games.

Dating back to last season, the Yankees have won eight straight games (and 13 of last 14 meetings) against the Red Sox. It's their longest win streak in the rivalry since 1985. New York improves to 14-6 on the season. The Red Sox, meanwhile, drop to 6-14 and sit in last place in the AL East. The two clubs will continue their four-game series Sunday with first pitch at 7:08 p.m. ET. 

CBS Sports was with you the entire game with highlights and analysis from the game. Relive the action below.

Now, here are our biggest takeaways from Saturday night's rivalry game:

Another Yankees slugger suffers injury

Yankees second baseman DJ LeMahieu entered play on Saturday batting an American League-best .429 with two home runs and eight RBI. LeMahieu has been the epitome of consistency at the plate for the Yankees so far in 2020. But, in Saturday's game, he was removed from the game with an apparent injury.

The Yankees later announced that he left the game with a sprained left thumb and will undergo further tests. It appeared that the Yankees star slugger was injured during an at-bat in the bottom of the fourth inning when he took an awkward swing. LeMahieu finished in the at-bat and stayed in the field for the next inning, but he was replaced at second by Tyler Wade in the sixth inning.

The Yankees have already taken injury hits to fellow sluggers Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. To lose LeMahieu too would be a huge blow to the club. Luckily, the Yankees have depth but it'll be nearly impossible to replace LeMahieu's bat considering the hot start he's had to the season.

It's unclear what LeMahieu's timeline is for a return, but things will be made clearer once the results of his tests are known. Manager Aaron Boone said the X-ray at the stadium was negative, and he'll also undergo both CT and MRI scans. If the injury is a sprained thumb, and no other damage occurred, he could miss two to three weeks. In 2018 while with the Rockies, LeMahieu sprained his left thumb and ended up on the injured list for two and a half weeks. Any type of injury and subsequent visit to the IL is even more detrimental than usual, considering the shortened 2020 season.

Paxton continues his rebound

For the Yankees, James Paxton had a solid day on the mound.  Paxton has been dealing with diminished velocity in 2020, but some mechanical adjustments prior to his last start yielded better results. Saturday's start was another encouraging sign after he struggled through his first two starts of the season, but the Yankees are likely still hoping for continued improvement.

Since undergoing back surgery this offseason, Paxton hasn't shown the same speed on his fastball. On Saturday, his fastball topped out at a season-high of 92.8 mph. After striking out 11 against Tampa Bay in his previous start, he struggled to put away Boston hitters and finished with two strikeouts. 

"t's getting there," Paxton told reporters after his start Saturday. "I think we're making progress. It's good that I was able to touch 95 (mph) tonight, and I hope we can keep on making progress going forward here."

Offense keeps rolling without Judge, Stanton

Entering Saturday's game, the Yankee lineup was without Aaron Judge (calf strain) and Giancarlo Stanton (hamstring strain), who were both recently placed on the injured list. While the pair of sluggers provide a punch to New York's offense, their absence didn't necessarily slow down the scoring. Gio Urshela, Gary Sanchez and Clint Frazier all went deep in the win.

It appears to be the same "next-man up" attitude that helped the Yankees overcome a constant string of injuries to their lineup last year. It's the same depth that helped the Yankees win the division despite placing a record 30 different players on the injured list in 2019.

Frazier, who was recently called up after the Judge and Stanton injuries, drove in a career-high five runs during the game. The 25-year-old is 7-for-11 with two home runs in three games since being recalled. Tyler Wade, who took over at second after LeMahieu's injury, delivered an RBI double.

[Aug 15, 2020 at 10:17 pm ET · Katherine Acquavella]

Thanks for following along with us tonight! We'll be live blogging tomorrow's Yankees-Red Sox game as well.

[Aug 15, 2020 at 10:16 pm ET · Katherine Acquavella]

New York wins, 11-5. The Red Sox lose their sixth straight game, and are 0-5 against the rival Yankees this season.

[Aug 15, 2020 at 10:16 pm ET · Katherine Acquavella]

And that's the ballgame.

[Aug 15, 2020 at 10:12 pm ET · Katherine Acquavella]

Brett Gardner crashes into the centerfield wall and drops the ball while attempting to make the game-ending catch. Another Red Sox run on the board. It's 11-5. Two outs.

[Aug 15, 2020 at 10:06 pm ET · Katherine Acquavella]

Alex Verdugo knocks a solo homer off Luis Cessa to kick off the ninth. 11-4, Yanks.

[Aug 15, 2020 at 10:03 pm ET · Katherine Acquavella]

We head to the ninth inning as the Yankees hold an 11-3 lead.

[Aug 15, 2020 at 9:45 pm ET · Katherine Acquavella]

Clint Frazier is having himself a game tonight. The Yankees extend their lead to 10-3 in the seventh inning. He's driven in five of the Yankees' 10 runs tonight.

[Aug 15, 2020 at 9:07 pm ET · Katherine Acquavella]

Since getting called up, he's hitting .600/.636/1.500 in three games.

[Aug 15, 2020 at 9:05 pm ET · Katherine Acquavella]

Frazier takes Eovaldi deep to give the Yankees a 7-3 lead.

[Aug 15, 2020 at 8:33 pm ET · Dayn Perry]

Clint Frazier has a hit and a walk tonight, and he continues to put up big numbers since being recalled recently.

[Aug 15, 2020 at 8:24 pm ET · Dayn Perry]

Yanks catcher Gary Sanchez has endured a brutally slow start to the season, but he just homered in his third straight game.

[Aug 15, 2020 at 8:10 pm ET · Dayn Perry]

Yeah, you can't allow this kind of damage in two-strike counts. https://twitter.com/ktsharp/st...

[Aug 15, 2020 at 7:56 pm ET · Dayn Perry]

Bogaerts, one of the most underrated players in baseball, homers to give Boston the 3-2 lead.

[Aug 15, 2020 at 7:45 pm ET · Dayn Perry]

Very promising sign for Paxton right here. https://twitter.com/TalkinYank...

[Aug 15, 2020 at 7:32 pm ET · Katherine Acquavella]

That's the 32nd home run the Red Sox pitching staff has given up this season. Earlier this month, our RJ Anderson predicted that this rotation would be one of the worst in baseball this season.

[Aug 15, 2020 at 7:28 pm ET · Dayn Perry]

Gio Urshela with his fourth home run of the season. He had a breakout season in 2019, and so far in 2020 he's kept producing.

[Aug 15, 2020 at 7:26 pm ET · Dayn Perry]

Nice grab by Clint Frazier. https://twitter.com/BarnHasSpo...

[Aug 15, 2020 at 7:22 pm ET · Dayn Perry]

Eyeball the Boston lineup, and it looks like it should be a good one. Thus far, however, they rank eighth in the AL in run scored and 11th in OPS.

[Aug 15, 2020 at 7:15 pm ET · Dayn Perry]

Paxton's velocity not up to vintage levels, but it's better than it was early in the season thus far.