Yankees Eliminate Red Sox, Box Score Stats, Highlights & Bracket After 2026 MLB Wild Card Game 2

The New York Yankees are heading to the American League Division Series for the third straight season.

New York completed its sweep of the rival Boston Red Sox on Wednesday with a 9-2 victory in Game 2 of their Wild Card Series at Yankee Stadium behind a brilliant performance from starting pitcher Max Fried and an offensive explosion featuring home runs from Cody Bellinger and Luis García Jr.

As a result, the Yankees will square off with the top-seeded Tampa Bay Rays in the Division Series.

Boston had its back against the wall coming into play, so it handed the ball to its ace in Sonny Gray. The right-hander was excellent this season with a 2.72 ERA and represented the visitors' best chance to even the series.

However, he wasn't even the best starting pitcher in Wednesday's game.

Fried, who dealt with injury concerns this season but was dominant when healthy with a 2.80 ERA and 0.99 WHIP, immediately set the tone by striking out the first two batters he faced in a Red Sox lineup missing Roman Anthony ( hand/wrist ).

He also worked out of trouble in the third by striking out Jahmai Jones and retiring Adley Rutschman after a Nate Eaton double. The southpaw didn't give up a single run until Willson Contreras' solo homer in the sixth, which came after the Yankees already chased Gray from the game with two runs of their own.

García broke the scoreless tie when he launched a solo homer in the fourth and then just missed an RBI single in the fifth when Eaton threw out Ben Rice at home after Bellinger's RBI single pushed the lead to 2-0.

All it took for the Yankees to break it open was getting through Gray.

They exploded for six runs in the sixth inning with four of them credited to Garrett Crochet, who didn't record a single out. It wasn't all poor pitching, as Spencer Jones reached on a wild pitch strikeout and Trent Grisham singled on a bunt, but it was a performance to forget.

He gave up three straight singles before he was pulled for Garrett Whitlock, who gave up a three-run homer to Bellinger.

The game was essentially over as the ball was soaring through the air, and the Yankees put things on cruise control for the final innings as they looked ahead to a highly anticipated matchup with the Rays.