Yankees at Red Sox
The New York Yankees attempt to increase their franchise-record single-season home run total and win their fifth consecutive series when they visit the Boston Red Sox on Monday for the finale of their four-game set. The Yankees went deep three times in Sunday's 10-5 triumph to give them 268 blasts in 2019, eclipsing the mark they set just last year.
Gleyber Torres and Mike Tauchman homered before Aaron Judge belted the record-setting shot in the fifth inning for New York, which hasn't lost a series since being swept in Oakland from Aug. 20-22. Torres finished with four RBIs in the victory after recording only three in his previous 12 contests for the Yankees, who are even with Houston (94-50) for the best record in the major leagues. Jackie Bradley Jr. and Mookie Betts homered on Sunday for Boston, which fell to 2-4 on their seven-game homestand and sits eight games behind Oakland for the second wild card in the American League. Bradley, who is batting just .219 this season, needs two blasts to reach 20 for the second time in his career.
TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, MLB Network, YES (New York), NESN (Boston)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Yankees LH James Paxton (12-6, 4.16 ERA) vs. Red Sox LH Eduardo Rodriguez (17-5, 3.81)
After allowing seven runs in back-to-back losses to close out July, Paxton has won seven consecutive starts to match the career-high victory total he registered in 2017 with Seattle. The 30-year-old Canadian is coming off a sterling outing against Texas on Tuesday in which he allowed one hit and one walk while recording a season high-tying 12 strikeouts over seven scoreless innings. Paxton is 4-1 with a 3.32 ERA in seven career turns against the Red Sox and 2-1 versus the club this year - including a win on April 16 in which he gave up two hits and struck out 12 over eight scoreless frames, a loss at Boston on July 26 in which he yielded seven runs over four frames and a home triumph seven days later that began his current winning streak.
Rodriguez also is coming off a scoreless effort, a seven-inning victory over Minnesota on Wednesday in which he scattered five hits and issued four walks while registering eight strikeouts en route to extending his winning streak to four starts. The 26-year-old Venezuelan hasn't lost since pitching opposite Paxton on Aug. 2, when he surrendered four runs on five hits and a season-high six walks in 6 2/3 frames. That defeat dropped Rodriguez, who is 8-1 at home this year, to 6-5 with a 4.03 ERA in 17 career games (15 starts) versus New York.
WALK-OFFS
1. The Yankees will be without Tauchman, who went 2-for-2 with a two-run homer and scored twice before exiting Sunday's contest in the fourth inning with tightness in his left calf.
2. Betts is three RBIs away from reaching 80 for the fourth consecutive season and seven walks shy of hitting the century mark for the first time in his career.
3. New York on Sunday activated 3B Gio Urshela (groin) and 2B Thairo Estrada (hamstring) from the 10-day injured list while recalling C Kyle Higashioka and 2B Breyvic Valera from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.