Bellinger and Chisholm hit 8th-inning homers that lead the Yankees over the Red Sox 6-1

NEW YORK (AP) — Cody Bellinger's tiebreaking homer sparked a five-run eighth inning capped by Jazz Chisholm Jr.'s three-run drive, and the banged-up New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 6-1 on Sunday.

Bellinger drove a cutter from Justin Slaten (0-3) into the right-center seats for a 2-1 lead. Trent Grisham added an RBI single and Chisholm went deep on a cutter against Joe La Sorsa.

New York (38-26) gained a split of the rain-shortened, two-game series and moved within percentage points of first-place Tampa Bay (37-25), which has led the AL East since May 10.

Tim Hill (3-2) pitched a perfect eighth.

New York is missing a trio of regulars who are on the injured list: Aaron Judge (fractured rib), Giancarlo Stanton (calf strain) and Austin Wells (cervical headaches). In five games without Judge, the Yankees are batting .226 with 19 runs.

Pitching against the team he rooted for growing up, Yankees starter Cam Schlittler dropped his ERA to 1.87 with his ninth start allowing no runs or one. He gave up an RBI double with two outs in the sixth to his last batter, Willson Contreras.

Schlittler's four-seam fastball averaged 97.5 mph, down from 99.6 mph on May 4 but up from 96.8 mph in his previous start Tuesday against Cleveland.

José Caballero doubled in the fifth and scored when Paul Goldschmidt lofted an opposite-field RBI single to right just in front of Wilyer Abreu, who nearly made a sliding, backhand grab.

Boston starter Ranger Suarez, who is 0-1 in six starts since April 27, gave up one run and six hits in 6 1/3 innings.

With Wells sidelined, catcher Ali Sánchez started and went 0 for 2 in his Yankees debut.

Boston second baseman Anthony Siegler had a double and a walk in his Yankee Stadium debut. He was drafted 23rd overall by New York in 2018 and allowed to become a free agent after the 2024 season.

New York outfielder Jasson Domínguez, sidelined since May 7 by a sprained AC joint in his left shoulder, could rejoin the Yankees on their trip to Cleveland and Toronto that starts Monday.

Red Sox: LHP Connelly Early (5-3, 3.26 ERA) starts Monday's series opener at Tampa Bay.

Yankees: RHP Will Warren (7-1, 3.22 ERA) starts Monday's opener against Cleveland RHP Gavin Williams (9-3, 3.20).

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/mlb

New York Yankees' José Caballero slides to score on a single hit by Paul Goldschmidt during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Boston Red Sox, Sunday, June 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

New York Yankees pitcher Cam Schlittler throws during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Boston Red Sox, Sunday, June 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

New York Yankees' Jazz Chisholm Jr. reacts after hitting a three-run home run, leading Trent Grisham and Anthony Volpe to also score, during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Boston Red Sox, Sunday, June 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

New York Yankees' Cody Bellinger runs after hitting a home run during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Boston Red Sox, Sunday, June 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

New York Yankees' Cody Bellinger, right, hits a home run during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Boston Red Sox, Sunday, June 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

Two more cases of the New World screwworm have been confirmed, including one outside the main cluster in Texas, demonstrating the difficulty of stopping a pest that could potentially devastate the nation's cattle industry, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Monday.

The screwworm is actually a fly larva that eats living flesh instead of dead material. Females lay their eggs in open wounds of warm-blooded animals like cattle, but wildlife, pets and occasionally even humans can be infested. A government program to breed sterile male flies and drop swarms of them from planes to mate with wild females had kept screwworm contained at the southern end of Panama for decades.

So far, there are four confirmed cases: three calves in Texas and a dog from neighboring Lea County, New Mexico. The dog, which the USDA initially reported as a Texas case, lives in New Mexico and was reclassified as the first in that state. The animal's travel history is being investigated.

The first two screwworm cases were discovered last week in calves a few miles apart in south Texas. The third was announced Monday in La Salle County, southwest of San Antonio.

Scientists expect a handful of new cases could pop up in the coming days and weeks, but it doesn't mean screwworm is spreading rapidly, said Edward Burgess, a University of Florida entomologist who studies the fly.

“When that first case is seen, everyone is being vigilant and their eyes are on it more intensely,” Burgess said. “And when you are looking for something, you are more likely to see it.”

The USDA and the U.S. cattle industry have been racing to prevent an infestation since screwworm was detected in Mexico late in 2024. The annual warm-weather scourge of cattle ranchers had been eliminated in the U.S. in the 1960s.

So far, its reappearance hasn’t greatly affected beef prices, which are already near record levels because there are fewer cows in the U.S. Although the parasite attacks live cattle, it does not infest meat or fruit. There are also a dozen government-approved medications to treat livestock.

Canada temporarily stopped importing cattle, horses or other livestock from Texas on Friday. The parasites prefer humid areas where temperatures are at least 77 F (25 C), making them more of a summer problem up north.

USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins will hold a news conference about the infestation Monday afternoon following a briefing at the U.S. Livestock Insects Research Laboratory in Kerrville, Texas.

Burgess said the long-term solution — breeding sterile male flies — is months away. Since wild female flies mate just once, if that encounter is with a sterile male, outbreaks can eventually be halted as the flies die out.

The USDA is working to both increase sterile fly production in plants outside the U.S. and build a massive fly factory in Texas.

However, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said the federal response will take too long and risks crippling the cattle industry. Instead, he says a poison bait could eliminate the screwworm problem in a few months, even if USDA and other experts say the bait hasn’t been proven to work and could poison other flies, animals and even humans.

“What the hell is a good fly?” Miller said in an interview Monday.

This story has been updated to reflect that the USDA revised the dog screwworm case to New Mexico, not Texas as the agency initially reported, and to correct the spelling of Kerrville.

Associated Press writer Scott McFetridge in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report.

FILE - A test container of dyed fly pupae are displayed at a Domestic New World Screwworm Sterile Fly Production Facility to combat the northward spread of NWS and protect American livestock, in Edinburg, Texas, Feb. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

FILE - An adult New World screwworm fly sits in this undated photo. (Denise Bonilla/U.S. Department of Agriculture via AP)