NEW YORK — Aaron Hicks awoke a dormant offense with a two-run homer that sparked a five-run eighth inning, then threw out a runner at third in the ninth inning to help Aroldis Chapman get out of trouble, and the New York Yankees rallied to beat the Red Sox 5-4 Friday night and stop Boston’s winning streak at eight.
Hanley Ramirez and Andrew Benintendi homered off Jaime Garcia, and Eduardo Rodriguez handed a 3-0 lead to his bullpen in the seventh. But in the first of 10 key games between the AL East rivals in 24 days, Didi Gregorius and Todd Frazier followed Hicks’ home run with RBI singles and Ronald Torreyes hit a sacrifice fly as the Yankees took a 5-3 lead and rebounded to close within 3½ games of the Red Sox.
Chapman walked the bases loaded with no outs in the ninth. Andrew Benintendi hit a sacrifice fly that Hicks caught in front of the left-field warning track, making a one-hop throw to third baseman Todd Frazier, who tagged out Eduardo Nunez trying to advance from second. Mitch Moreland flied out to end it, giving Chapman his 15th save in 18 chances.
Boston second baseman Dustin Pedroia could be headed to the disabled list for the third time this season.
Pedroia went 0 for 4 as a designated hitter Wednesday at Tampa Bay in his first game since July 28. Pedroia’s left knee was too inflamed for him to play Friday night for the AL East leaders at Yankee Stadium, and Red Sox manager John Farrell said a return to the DL was possible.
“Our goal was to get him some at-bats before this series,” Farrell said. “There’s been a little bit of a pushback in terms of the reaction, some swelling, some inflammation, so we’re holding him out today.”
“I wouldn’t rule out the DL,” Farrell added. “We’ll see where this goes over the next 24 hours.”
Farrell does not think this is a season-ending injury to Pedroia, who is hitting .303 with six homers and 54 RBIs.
“We’ve got to continue to get some work to get back to where he feels he’s able to endure day to day, and we’re not quite there yet.”
Pedroia was hurt by a late slide by Baltimore’s Manny Machado on April 21. Pedroia returned six days later but went on the DL from May 30 to June 9.
Red Sox pitcher David Price, who hasn’t pitched since July 22 because of left elbow inflammation, threw in the outfield from 120 feet, then threw more intensely from 60 feet on flat ground, including breaking balls.
“Since his placement on the DL, today was his best throwing day yet,” Farrell said.
A decision on Price’s next step will be made Saturday. Price started the season on the DL because of his elbow, was activated May 29 and went 5-3 with a 3.82 ERA in 11 starts.
Forced to leave a start this week because of knee pain, CC Sabathia initially thought his career might be over. Now, the 37-year-old left-hander hopes to miss just one turn for the New York Yankees.
Sabathia was put on the 10-day disabled list Friday because of right knee inflammation, and rookie left-hander Jordan Montgomery was recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to make Sabathia’s start in Sunday night’s series finale against Boston. Sabathia’s DL trip was retroactive to Wednesday, a day after he allowed four runs in three innings at Toronto.
“When it first happened initially, I was freaking out,” Sabathia said. “I was in a lot of pain and I felt like I was letting the team down.”
Sabathia calmed down after he spoke with his wife, Amber, and an MRI showed no additional damage. He had cortisone and platelet rich plasma injections on Wednesday and felt well enough to play catch Thursday.
Sabathia hopes to throw a bullpen session Sunday, then get ready to return.
“I think it’s going to be a question mark until he throws the bullpen,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.
Sabathia originally was to have maintenance injections at regular intervals.
“We didn’t because I felt great, so we didn’t want to like kind of mess with it,” he said.
Sabathia is 9-5 with a 4.05 ERA in 19 starts, including 14 scoreless innings in two wins against Boston. He pitches with a brace because of the knee, which was repaired with surgery in July 2014 and last October. He had not had pain injections since the last operation.