The Boston Red Sox Sunday, August 13, 2017 * The Boston Globe Andrew Benintendi, Red Sox bury Yankees Peter Abraham NEW YORK — Andrew Benintendi was left out of the Red Sox lineup on July 31 and again the next day. Manager John Farrell, always careful with his choice of words, said the rookie needed time to clear his head. Labels aside, Brock Holt was a better choice to play left field at that point. Benintendi had hit .180 with little power since the All-Star break, his at-bats a steady drip of weak contact. Holt got on base five times in two games, both victories against the Cleveland Indians. But he didn’t expect to stay in left field. “I knew Benny would be back there,” Holt said. “You’re slumping, slumping, slumping and that time off allows you not to worry about at-bats. The guy is a great hitter, we know that.” When Benintendi was released from the dugout, he doubled in his first at-bat and hasn’t stopped hitting since. Benintendi belted a pair of three-run home runs on Saturday, carrying the Red Sox to a 10-5 victory against the Yankees before a sellout crowd of 47,241 at the Stadium. After a discouraging late-inning loss on Friday night, the Sox battered Yankees ace Luis Severino. Now the Sox will send Chris Sale to the mound against rookie Jordan Montgomery on Sunday night with a chance to win the series. The Sox have won nine of 10 games and again lead the American League East by 4½ games. Benintendi is the first Red Sox player to hit two three-run home runs against the Yankees since Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx in 1938. The six RBIs matched his career high. “Two beautiful swings,” Farrell said. Since his two-day break, Benintendi is 15 of 31 with three doubles, four home runs, 11 RBIs, 10 runs, and five stolen bases. His OPS has climbed from .748 to .807 in eight games. Benintendi has three home runs and eight RBIs in the last two games. His timing was excellent given the 20 or so members of his family in the stands to celebrate his grandfather’s 85th birthday. Robert Benintendi, who now lives in Ohio, was born in Brooklyn and grew up a Yankees fan. “Not anymore,” his grandson said. Led by Benintendi, the Sox have scored 64 runs in the last 10 games. So when Gary Sanchez hit a two-run homer off Drew Pomeranz in the first inning, it wasn’t a concern. Pomeranz (12-4) went 6⅔ innings and allowed three runs on seven hits. “I just tried to settle down, minimize damage and let the offense work,” Pomeranz said. “Obviously Benny had a great day.” The Sox scored five runs off Severino in the third inning and five more in the fifth. Christian Vazquez worked a one-out walk in the third, seeing nine pitches. Jackie Bradley Jr. then saw six more pitches and also walked. “You look at Vazqy’s walk inside that third inning as the key to get it started,” Farrell said. When Eduardo Nunez grounded to third base, the Yankees had a chance for a double play. But Todd Frazier fumbled the ball. With the bases loaded, Mookie Betts grounded a two-run single into left field. Benintendi then homered to right center. Severino struck out the side in the fourth inning and the Yankees got a run back in the bottom of the inning when the ghost of Jacoby Ellsbury grounded to first base with the bases loaded. At 5-3, it was a game. But that didn’t last long. Nunez singled to open the fifth inning and went to third when Betts doubled. Benintendi then hammered a pitch deep into the bleachers in right field. Before he went on deck, Benintendi told Holt he expected to get a slider on the first pitch from Severino. It was the second pitch and Benintendi was waiting for it. “I mean, that’s pretty impressive to me,” Holt said. “I can say that all I want. If I say that, I’m just messing around. But he really believed it and he did it.” Benintendi has a low-maintenance swing and didn’t make any mechanical adjustments after his two days off. It has been more a matter of an aggressive approach on pitches in the strike zone. “I feel the exact same. I haven’t changed a thing,” he said. “I’m not missing pitches like I was previously. “When I was struggling I felt like I always down 0-1, 0-2, 1-2. You’re not going to have that much success when you’re always down in the count. So now I just pick a pitch and if I get it, I swing at it.” Mitch Moreland doubled with one out before Xander Bogaerts reached on a throwing error by shortstop Didi Gregorius. That was it for Severino. Facing Giovanny Gallegos, Rafael Devers followed with a two-run double to center field that was clocked at 109.5 m.p.h. Severino (9-5) was charged with 10 runs, eight earned. He had faced the Sox twice previously this season, allowing one run over 14 innings. Pomeranz retired 10 of the final 13 batters he faced before handing the game off to the bullpen in the seventh inning. In his last 11 starts, Pomeranz is 6-0 with a 2.42 ERA. He also improved to 3-1 with a 1.74 ERA in four career appearances at Yankee Stadium. Red Sox’ Drew Pomeranz has proved to be a dominating No. 2 Nick Cafardo NEW YORK — If Drew Pomeranz hasn’t turned around your opinion of him by now then you’re just a stubborn, disbelieving, hardened, cynical Red Sox fan. It took a while for this reporter to come around, but when Pomeranz was struggling last season he wasn’t completely healthy. And now he is. The guy whose trade you and I wanted rescinded after the Padres withheld medical information on his balky elbow and forearm has turned out to be the guy who would start Game 2 of the ALDS against Cleveland if the season were to end today. Last season he couldn’t make the postseason rotation. He worked out of the bullpen. He began the year as the “shaky” No. 5 starter and now he’s money. Consider that Pomeranz, now 12-4 with a 3.39 ERA after a 10-5 win over the Yankees Saturday, is undefeated in his last 11 starts, going 6-0 with a 2.42 ERA (67 IP, 18 ER). Since June 16, his 2.24 ERA is the third lowest in the AL, behind only Corey Kluber and Chris Sale. His 12 wins mark a career high. Not many were thrilled by the Pomeranz acquisition at the time because the Red Sox gave up prospect Anderson Espinoza. There was also sentiment to send Pomeranz back to the cheating Padres, but Dave Dombrowski stuck to his guns that Pomeranz would be a good starter for the Red Sox. Pomeranz was a National League All-Star with the Padres last season. After the Red Sox did their own medicals on Pomeranz, they concluded keeping Pomeranz was in their best interest. Espinoza recently had Tommy John surgery. Pomeranz feels he’s even better now than he was during his All-Star first half in San Diego. “I think it’s different. I feel better. I was one-dimensional when I was over there with a good curveball and good arm side fastball, but I think I’ve developed a lot of other things to help me win games and make pitches,” he said. In the offseason, Dombrowski had a few teams ask him about Pomeranz, figuring the Red Sox had an excess at starting pitcher. But he told all of them that Pomeranz was not available and that he would make Clay Buchholz available instead. Dombrowski dealt Buchholz to the Phillies and he suffered a season- ending arm injury. Imagine if Dombrowski had rescinded the trade? After losing Steven Wright for the season, Eduardo Rodriguez for part of the season, and David Price for the first two months of the season and again now, imagine where the Red Sox would be? Pomeranz is still only 28 years old, has one more year of being arbitration available, and can be a free agent after the 2019 season. For $4.45 million, the Red Sox are getting a lot for their money. Pomeranz beat the White Sox his last time out, allowing just a run and striking out eight over 6⅓ innings. While he allowed three runs in Saturday’s win over 6⅔ innings, Pomeranz has made 17 starts in which he’s allowed two runs or fewer, tying him with Clayton Kershaw for the most in major league baseball. Pomeranz has held opponents to a .190 average with runners in scoring position. Over his last nine road starts he’s 5-0 with a 2.58 ERA. It was just the third time he had allowed more than two runs in his last 11 road starts. Oh, it’s great when your team scores 10 runs after you put them in a hole by allowing a two-run homer to Gary Sanchez in the first inning, but Pomeranz kept getting stronger and stronger and wiggled out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the fourth by surrendering only one run, which really proved to be the turning point of the game.