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BOSTON – To a man, every player who was here a year ago, when the Yankees ended their season with the Red Sox in the ALDS, said he did not agree of great importance to toppling Boston from the AL East race on Monday night.
But there was "New York, New York" scathing from the visiting clubhouse after the Yankees beat their rivals 5-0 at Fenway Park.
"It's a good song," Austin Romine said about controversial music when Aaron Judge played it as the Yankees left Fenway in the playoffs last October, and then lost. Series.
It's a very different season, though.
It is one that has seen the Yankees become perhaps the best team in the league and Boston, less than a year away from a title, and already undergoing a reshuffle on the front line after having won three consecutive races in the AL East.
And if the Yankees want to finish the job, their next goal will be to close the division. Their magic number fell to nine on Tampa Bay's second place with Monday's win, behind another outstanding performance by James Paxton.
The southpaw signed another scoreless start, this one 6 ² / ₃ after scoring seven scoreless goals against Texas.
"He is the best pitcher of the game," said the judge. "He's fine at the right time."
He had all the offense he needed from Romine and Gio Urshela, who each hit solo circuits.
Paxton had its worst outing of the year in Fenway on July 26, while the entire Yankees rotation seemed to implode. In this game, Paxton allotted seven points – all deserved – and it was Paxton's second consecutive start in which he dropped seven points.
"Maybe the best thing that happened to him is this game," said Boston manager Alex Cora. "Because he has somehow changed the script. It does not rely solely on the cutter. He uses his brittle ball to get ahead and then uses this fast two-seamed ball to get big outs and get a soft touch with the guys. "
Paxton has won each of his eight starts since then and has allowed two earned runs or fewer in his last four games.
The Yankees took the lead in the fifth inning on the opposite circuit of Romine against Eduardo Rodriguez.
Boston was threatening in sixth with two outings on a march from J.D. Martinez and Christian Vazquez single left on a 0-2 field. Paxton recovered to bring Sam Travis in third place to end the inning.
The homer of Urshela added one point to the seventh goal against Darwinzon Hernandez. It is the first departure of Urshela since his return from the list of wounded with a left groin stretched.
Later in the round, Romine doubled and scored on a single from DJ LeMahieu.
Paxton pulled out the first two batters in seventh and then walked Bradley to finish his night, but Zack Britton took the final of the heat.
Cory Gearrin threw an eighth scoreless and the Yankees added another point in the ninth before Tyler Lyons finished.
"I'm well placed," said Paxton. "I feel good and I want to stay there and go into the post-season feeling like that."
Aaron Boone has the same feeling.
"We are coming in and hope to have a lot of baseball," said the manager. "You like to see guys at their best at this time of year."
And if they can make things more difficult for their rivals, that's fine.
The judge said the Red Sox elimination of the AL East race "was not even on our radar, to be honest. We wanted to come here and continue our success. Our goal is to dominate each series. "
And they are approaching their top league title since 2012.
"That's what we're aiming for," said the judge. "We want to be the best team in AL East and the best in LA. We must win division first. We have not arrived yet, but we are getting closer. "
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