Yankees: We don't want Red Sox celebrating here

The New York Yankees can keep the Boston Red Sox from celebrating winning the American League East if …

NEW YORK — With 11 games left, it’s a lock: The Red Sox, at some point, will clinch the American League East.

The Yankees just don’t want it happening in the Bronx.

That’s at least according to Zach Britton and Neil Walker, who each played huge roles in a 3-2 win that kept Boston from taking the division title and turning Yankee Stadium into their own private dance party Tuesday night.

“I think it always serves as motivation,” Britton said of delaying the Red Sox’s celebration until the series ends Thursday. “You don’t want somebody celebrating on your home field.

“But at the end of the day, they’re a good ball club, and we know where we are in the standings and I think we’ve got to focus on what we can do. That’s play good baseball, like we did tonight. But, yeah, it’s tough to think about, but we’re going to try to keep them from doing that.”

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Walker was a bit more measured. He said, essentially, that the Yankees haven’t talked specifically about keeping the Red Sox from winning the AL East in the Bronx and that need to take care of their own business.

“That doesn’t mean anything,” Walker said.

But he also said, “We don’t want them to celebrate here and we’re going to do everything we can to not do that.”

The Red Sox’s magic number — or amount of Boston wins added to Yankees losses — is at two. Which means a single win over their blood rivals will give them the crown and a way to skip the AL Wild Card.

Meanwhile, the Yankees are just fighting to keep Wild Card home-field advantage. The win Tuesday pushed the A’s two games back of them for first place in the battle to host the do-or-die game, but Oakland was facing the checked-out Angels on Tuesday night.

“We haven’t talked about that, we haven’t thought about it,” Walker said about the Red Sox soaking the visitors clubhouse carpet with beer and champagne. “Obviously, we don’t want that to happen.”

Brendan Kuty may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.