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The Yankees’ margin for error without Aaron Judge is thinner than the bats they held Saturday night.
So Domingo German and the bullpen, in the biggest moments of a beautiful Bronx evening, consistently danced their way out of danger in a well-played, 3-1 victory over the Red Sox in front of a sellout crowd of 46,061.
The Yankees (38-28) have stayed afloat without their captain, winning three of six games since Judge went down.
They managed just six hits Saturday, but two were solo home runs, which proved to be the difference.
The biggest Yankees at-bats came from Gleyber Torres (a go-ahead home run), Willie Calhoun (a go-ahead homer), Isiah Kiner-Falefa (a single ahead of smart, aggressive baserunning) and Kyle Higashioka (RBI single), a sign of the type of offensive contributions the club is now relying upon.
Along with clutch pitching and top-notch defense, the Yankees executed in all areas.
“You’ve got to find ways to win,” said Kiner-Falefa, who scored an insurance run in the seventh inning from second base on a Higashioka single that barely left the infield. “Doesn’t matter how we win, we just got to find ways.”
The Yankees did not need much from their offense, though, because German surrendered little.
The righty pitched his best when he found himself in danger and gave up just one run in six innings.
German has allowed two or fewer runs in six of his past seven starts.
“He made some big pitches when he had to,” manager Aaron Boone said of German, who scattered six hits and walked two. “He had some big plays behind him. So just another strong start for what’s been a really good season so far for Domingo.”
After German was pulled, Wandy Peralta took a one-run lead in the seventh inning and defended it well.
The lefty lost a 14-pitch battle with Masataka Yoshida for a two-out walk, and then walked Justin Turner, which prompted a high-stakes battle with Yankees-killer Rafael Devers.
Peralta buckled down and induced a ground out from Devers, who already had homered once in the game and nearly homered another time.
“Wandy’s been so tough,” Boone said of Peralta, part of a bullpen that has posted a major league-best 2.78 ERA.
Tommy Kahnle hit Adam Duvall with his first pitch of the eighth inning, but did not allow him to reach second.
Clay Holmes, who has given up one run in his past 17 games, allowed the tying run to reach the batter’s box, but he struck out Yoshida and got Justin Turner to ground out for his eighth save of the season.
The Red Sox stranded 11 runners, consistently frustrated by Yankees pitchers who couldn’t — and didn’t — slip up.
“Little tougher for us to score runs right now, so you’ve got to do some little things to make that happen,” Boone said of an offense that got by with timely hits.
The Yankees did not manage a baserunner against Boston starter Tanner Houck until Torres opened the bottom of the fourth with a home run to right, his 11th of the season, which is best among AL second basemen.
The Red Sox tied it up in the sixth, when Devers blasted a homer to center, his second home run in as many nights, but the Yankees responded quickly.
In the bottom of the inning, Calhoun — who opened the season with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and has been a nice find — showed why he was hitting third in the order.
The right fielder smacked a go-ahead home run to right, the Yankees’ third hit of the game, but second homer.
“Willie can hit,” Boone said of the outfielder, who is batting .310 with seven extra-base hits in his past 13 games.
And Jake Bauers can field.
The little offense the Yankees produced held up in part because the left fielder tracked a long drive from Devers in the third inning back to the wall.
Bauers reached the warning track, leaped, reached high and pulled down the final out of the inning as he smacked against the wall.
“I thought that it was going to be a homer,” German said through interpreter Marlon Abreu. “And then all of a sudden, Bauers was right there, and he made a great catch.”
In the biggest moments, the Yankees came through.
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