The Yankees eliminated the Boston Red Sox from the postseason in the first round for the second straight year, completing the job with a 9-2 victory in Game 2 of the American League Wild Card Series. The win set off a celebration at Yankee Stadium and secured New York a place in the division series.

Before the celebration went too far, the organization’s player development department requested a photo of the homegrown contributors who helped make the series victory possible. Ben Rice, Cam Schlittler, George Lombard Jr., Spencer Jones, Austin Wells, Anthony Volpe and Will Warren gathered for the picture.

“Just because it's pretty cool how many guys we got up here producing for us,” Rice said. “It was super cool.”

The Yankees won Game 1 by a 9-0 score before taking Game 2 by a 9-2 score. New York outscored Boston 18-2 across the two games, the largest run differential of all time through two games of a postseason series.

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The next assignment is a division series against the Tampa Bay Rays, the AL East champions. Game 1 between the two best teams in the AL is scheduled for Saturday at Tropicana Field in Florida.

“All year, but even going into this series, that was a scary team to us, especially as well as they pitch,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “So for us to have the offensive outbreaks that we had here these last two nights and late, credit to those guys. That was very satisfying to play that well in these two games.”

New York produced those results without Aaron Judge in the lineup. Judge was left off the roster while recovering from a calf strain, while Giancarlo Stanton made the roster as a pinch hitter but did not receive an at bat after not playing in a game since April.

Their absences left the Yankees with a lineup heavily tilted toward hitters batting from the left side against a Boston pitching staff with several left handed pitchers. New York nevertheless went 11-for-22 with a 1.182 OPS against Boston’s lefties during the series.

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Boston started former Yankee Sonny Gray in Game 2 after giving Payton Tolle the ball in Game 1. New York responded by using eight left handed hitters in its starting lineup, the most ever in a postseason game when excluding switch hitters.

Luis Garcia Jr. opened the scoring with a solo home run in the fourth inning. Gray otherwise kept New York contained until the fifth, when Trent Grisham singled and Rice added another single with two outs on Gray’s 70th pitch.

Red Sox manager Chad Tracy then removed Gray and brought in Erik Miller to face Cody Bellinger. Bellinger answered with an RBI single to right field that gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead.

The decision closely resembled a Game 1 move in which Tracy replaced Tolle after 83 pitches and called on Miller to face Rice with two outs and Boston trailing 1-0. Rice homered to put New York ahead by two runs before the Yankees broke open the game against Boston’s bullpen.

Boston turned to Garrett Crochet in the sixth inning of Game 2, marking his first appearance since April 25 after he dealt with a shoulder injury for months. The 2025 AL Cy Young runner up struck out Jones, but the ball escaped catcher Adley Rutschman and a replay review reversed the initial out call.

Jones stole second, moved to third on Rutschman’s errant throw and scored on Lombard’s single. Jazz Chisholm Jr. followed with a single before Grisham beat out a bunt to load the bases and force Crochet from the game.

Garrett Whitlock entered, but Wells hit a sacrifice fly and Ryan McMahon added an RBI groundout. Tracy then intentionally walked Rice with first base open, bringing Bellinger to the plate with a runner on second and two outs.

Bellinger drove Whitlock’s second pitch, an 83 mph changeup over the middle, into the right field seats for a three-run home run. “That was a cool moment,” said Bellinger, who caught the night’s first pitch from his father, Clay, a former Yankee.

Schlittler and Max Fried combined to allow one run across 12⅓ innings in the two games. Judge said he did not know whether he would be available against Tampa Bay, though the source said there is a chance he could be cleared for the ALDS.

“We've been put in some tough situations and prevailed,” Judge said. “So, I think we're just going to really lean on those experiences and take it into a tough opponent with Tampa.”