BOSTON — In Joe Girardi’s mind, Shane Greene was spent. The neophyte right-hander recovered from a rocky second inning to give the Yankees a chance, and now with two Red Sox runners on base with two out in the fourth, it was time for a change.
The Yankees clinging to life in the AL East and it being August didn’t enter Girardi’s thought process.
“I thought he was done,’’ Girardi said of lifting Greene one out shy of qualifying for the 6-4 victory witnessed by a Fenway Park gathering of 37,302 Saturday. “He was at 96 pitches.’’
The victory stopped a two-game losing streak and presents the Yankees with a chance to take two of three from the downtrodden Red Sox with a win Sunday night.
Shawn Kelley, the first of four relievers, got the win. He caught Mike Napoli looking at a 3-2 pitch to strand two in the fifth and worked a perfect sixth. With one out and runners at the corners, Dellin Betances surfaced and traded a run for an out on David Ortiz’ ssacrifice fly that cut the Yankees’ lead to 6-4. Betances then popped up Yoenis Cespedes before a perfect eighth — during which he hit 100 mph three times and fanned Napoli with a 101-mph heater.
David Robertson worked around a two-out single by Brock Holt in the ninth with help from third baseman Chase Headley, who fielded a tricky hop on Dustin Pedroia’s grounder with the ever-dangerous Ortiz on deck.
“Today was one of the good days,’’ said Robertson, who posted his 28th save in 30 chances pitching for the first time since Tuesday in Texas when he gave up two runs, two hits and walked three in the ninth inning of a 12-11 victory. “It’s nice for us to keep doing what we’re supposed to do.’’
When Napoli took Greene completely out of New England’s living room in the three-run second, it appeared the Yankees and their inconsistent bats were buried. But Red Sox starter Allen Webster provided life by walking the first three batters in the third.
“You know you have to take advantage of it,’’ Girardi said of loading the bases without a hit or an out.
Derek Jeter’s flare double to right scored two, Jacoby Ellsbury’s hard-hit grounder to Pedroia tied the score 3-3 and Carlos Beltran’s two-out single put the Yankees ahead 4-3.
Mark Teixeira’s 19th homer in the fifth stretched the lead to two runs and Stephen Drew’s first hit as a Yankee was an RBI double in the seventh that made it 6-3.
“We swung the bats well, better than the six runs we scored,’’ Girardi said of the lineup that produced 10 hits but still went 3-for-14 with runners in scoring position.
Beltran extended his hitting streak to nine games with a 2-for-5 day. He is riding a 17-for-38 (.447) stretch, the first significant extended contribution the DH has made this year.
As for Greene, he knew what was wrong and eventually corrected it.
“I felt good, but I was just trying to make a perfect pitch,’’ Greene said. “I knew what I was doing wrong. [Napoli] let me know how far he can hit it.’’
A loss Saturday would have guaranteed the Yankees a losing road trip against two poor teams. Now, a win Sunday night gets them a 3-3 ledger.
“It was important,’’ Girardi said of the victory. “The road trip didn’t start out the way we wanted it.’’
It certainly didn’t. Two losses in three games to the Rangers, the worst team in the American League, were followed by the AL East bottom-feeding Red Sox winning Friday night.