Game 81: Yankees at Red Sox lineups and notes

The Red Sox have a chance to clinch this four-game series against the Yankees with a game to spare on Saturday.

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After winning the first two games, Boston turns to rookie lefthander Jake Bennett, who has taken the rotation spot of Brayan Bello and will face the Yankees for the first time.

The Red Sox pitching staff has produced a quality start of six innings and three runs or fewer in nine straight games following Payton Tolle’s brilliant outing on Friday in which he retired the first 16 hitters and allowed three base runners.

“It’s great,” Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy said. “The at-bats have been really great these last two days, but watching those guys go out there and consistently pitch six innings or into the seventh is pretty impressive.”

Bennett’s contribution to Boston’s quality start streak was six scoreless innings with nine strikeouts in a no-decision on Monday in Colorado.

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Here’s a preview:

YANKEES (48-33): TBA

Pitching: RHP Gerrit Cole (2-2, 3.62 ERA)

RED SOX (34-46): TBA

Pitching: LHP Jake Bennett (1-3, 3.71 ERA)

Time: 1:10 p.m.

TV, radio: ABC, WEEI-FM 93.7

Yankees vs. Bennett: Has not faced any Yankees batters

Red Sox vs. Cole: Wilyer Abreu 1-5, Willson Contreras 0-5, Jarren Duran 3-17, Andruw Monasterio 1-3, Ceddanne Rafaela 0-2, Connor Wong 2-3, Masataka Yoshida 3-10

Stat of the day: The Yankees are hitting .211 in their last nine games after going 3-for-30 in Friday’s 6-1 loss.

Notes: The Yankees reached the halfway point of their season on pace for 96 victories, but will attempt to avoid a third straight loss Saturday. … The Yankees are 12-10 since losing Aaron Judge to a fractured right rib. New York won nine of the first 13 games without Judge but heads into Saturday with six losses in nine games and is trying to avoid three straight losses for the second time in the past week. … The Red Sox haven’t won three straight home games since April. Boston is 14-25 at home. … Yankees starter Gerrit Cole is coming off his worst outing since returning from reconstructive elbow surgery. He allowed season highs of five runs and nine hits in 4 1/3 innings while throwing 89 pitches during a 5-3 loss at Detroit on Monday. … Cole is 7-6 with a 5.23 ERA in 19 career starts against the Red Sox. At Fenway Park, the veteran righthander is 2-3 with a 5.52 ERA in eight starts.

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Information from Field Level Media was used in this report.