Yankees’ Clint Frazier keeps raking — mock turtleneck or not

Mock turtleneck or not, Clint Frazier is really heating up at the plate.

Just before the Yankees’ 8-0 rout of the Red Sox in Boston on Saturday night, Frazier took to Twitter to report that teammate Brett Gardner had stolen his turtleneck undershirt from his locker to wear for himself. But the 26-year-old Frazier stayed warm on his own as he went a team-high 3-for-4 for two runs with three RBIs and a home run in the Yankees’ 10th straight win.

“I’m taking it back, I had a couple good games in it, I’m sure he’s not going to give it back,” Clint said of the turtleneck in question on a Zoom call following the win.

Frazier kept things going for the Yankees after Gio Urshela’s sacrifice fly made it 1-0 in the top of the first, ripping a line drive to left center for the RBI single as Aaron Judge scored to put the Yanks up 2-0.

In the top of the fourth, Frazier smacked the first pitch he saw to left field for a base hit. Saturday night’s win counted as his eighth multi-hit performance in his past 16 games. To cap off his opportunistic performance at the plate, Frazier made it 7-0 in the top of the fifth with a two-run shot for his eighth home run of the season.

“That’s a ball I don’t know if he’s able to hit last year,” manager Aaron Boone said. “That’s a big-boy home run right there, in this ballpark on a cold night, and it’s off the bat and you know it’s out.

“His ability to drive the ball now the other way with power has been really impressive. And their starter is not an easy draw for a right-handed hitter and couple big at-bats to get us going, first two times up, and just real quality at-bats.”

Frazier agreed that last season he probably wouldn’t have been able to get the necessary positioning to hit that 91.5 mph sinker from Dylan Covey in Fenway Park, noting he’s beginning to cut the ball rather than just hit it with force.

“I really worked hard this year to try to incorporate my lower half into my swing better and use more of the strength that I have,” he said. “I feel like that’s what’s given me the ability to hit the ball to right field with more authority.”

And after Boone essentially guaranteed Frazier a lineup spot going forward last week, Frazier admitted that hearing that kind of reassurance is special for him.

The one blemish on Frazier’s night, aside from a fly out in foul territory to end the top of the seventh, was a misread in the field on a Kevin Plawecki double off the Green Monster that the left fielder didn’t track well.

But Gardner, who claims one of the two turtlenecks Frazier has from the team belongs to him, took it upon himself to offer some quick words of advice to Frazier in the field after the play, which the veteran outfielder handled off the wall.

“He just said it’s a tough play and that warning track is about two times bigger than a normal one and just continued to remind that you have to keep going strong into the wall no matter what, and that he’s going to be there to back me up,” Frazier said.