NEW YORK (AP) — Gerrit Cole hardly believes he’s solved pitching to Rafael Devers. At least he doesn’t have to worry about quieting teammate Matt Carpenter’s bat.
The rest of the Yankees are satisfied with concluding a memorable first half with two decisive wins over their longtime rival following their worst slump of the season.
Cole brushed back Devers and struck out 12, Carpenter drove in three more runs and the Yankees pounded the Red Sox 13-2 Sunday after Boston ace Chris Sale broke his left pinkie finger in the first inning.
“I don’t think I figured him out,” Cole said of Devers, who has been a thorn in the ace’s side. “I think I just executed the pitches that I wanted to execute today, and I think we sequenced better than we did last time.“
The Yankees reached double-digit runs for the 16th time — no other team has more than 10 such games — and cruised into the All-Star break with a major league-best record of 64-28. Their 64 wins matched the 2018 Astros for third-most prior to the break since the All-Star Game began in 1933.
New York outscored Boston 27-3 in the final two games of the series after losing five of six games, a stretch that included three extra-inning defeats.
“Great job by them,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Been a little bit of a rough week obviously. To answer last night and today with two pretty emphatic victories, you want to roll into the break feeling good.”
Cole (9-2) dusted Devers off the plate with a low, 99 mph fastball on his first pitch to the third baseman after allowing two homers to him July 7 in Boston. Devers glared at Cole from the dirt, then struck out swinging at a high fastball.
Cole allowed two runs and three hits over seven innings for his fourth straight win. He also got his 13th career game of double-digit…