Yankees make big statement with 'first punch' to start crucial stretch

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The Yankees had their ace on the mound to begin Friday’s crucial three-game series against the Red Sox, and while Gerrit Cole put together an outing worthy of his ace title, it was the offense that the team hopes set the tone for the rest of the series.

The Bombers pounced on Nathan Eovaldi, who had given the team fits in the past, tagging the hard-throwing righty for seven runs in 2.2 innings of work to take a 7-0 lead and cruise to an easy win.

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“Great first punch to the series,” Giancarlo Stanton said. “It’s good to get out on top early and stay on top, so yeah, the feeling in the clubhouse is good, but we’re right back at 4:00 tomorrow.”

Stanton was a big part of the offensive onslaught, going 3-for-5 with four RBI, three of them coming on one swing of the bat with a three-run blast into the Boston bullpen to open up a 6-0 lead. That helped chase Eovaldi and force the Red Sox to use three arms in relief, to tally up over six innings, which the Yanks hope has a ripple effect through the rest of the series.

“It’s big in a lot of ways,” Stanton said. “If we get guys out there early pitching when they’re not supposed to be or when it’s not expected, and that sets the tone for the series.”

These games are the ones the Yanks need to have, providing a way to directly make up ground in their quest for the top Wild Card spot. But elsewhere, the Yankees got help from the lowly Twins, who once again beat Toronto to give New York a two-game cushion for the final playoff spot.

“We’re definitely aware [of the standings], but if we take care of business, it doesn’t matter,” Stanton said. “If we get the win ourselves, we’re in the best position possible that we can control. We just secure our win and see what everyone else is doing after that.”

Friday night couldn’t have gone much better for the Yankees, both in their own game and elsewhere, but this team has shown a maddening ability to go from high to low in a hurry, so the challenge the rest of the way will be to find the consistency they enjoyed on their 13-game winning streak, which was immediately followed by a brutal stretch that made these final nine games so imperative to their playoff hopes.

“We’re still in a great opportunity to erase that roller coaster we’ve been on and start a new one,” Stanton said. “That’s what we gotta do.”

Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1

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