The Yankees took a three-run lead in the second, and allowed the Red Sox to get back into the game, but a two-out RBI double in the eighth proved the difference in New York’s 8-5 win over Boston, earning a portion of the doubleheader at Fenway Park.
Here are the takeaways…
– Boston struck first in the bottom of the first start Clarke Schmidt with a pair of bloop singles getting things started for the Sox. The Yankees attempted a 3-6-1 double play and threw one out to second base, but Antonio Volpe‘s shot went over the bag allowing the man advantage Ceddanne Rafaela score from third on the error.
Schmidt almost got out of the inning without further damage, but his two-strike cutter just missed and on the next pitch Willer Abreuthe left liner scored Alex Verdugo from the second to reach 2-0.
– It was a bullpen game for the Red Sox and after Nick Robertson first he worked without networks, Brennan Bernardino was welcomed by Estevan Florialit’s the single on the left first Oswald Peraza he dropped a one-out double and Oswaldo Cabrera walked on four pitches to load the bases.
New York, after going 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position and leaving nine on base in Game 1, saw Kyle Higashioka descend swinging on three straight pitches. But DJ LeMahieu you simply beat the second baseman’s throw Pablo Reyes on a bouncer to center, call overturned by a Yanks challenge, for an RBI with two outs.
That hustle allowed it Aaron judge to bat and threw a 2-0 fastball up the middle 110 mph off the bat and 418 feet up the middle for a grand slam that put New York up 5-2.
A Gleyber Torres single e Giancarlo Stanton the walk gave the Yankees another RBI chance, but Florial grounded out to second leaving two stranded.
– Raffaele Devers he would get his second hit of the night with a first-pitch homer to start the bottom of the third on a ball that bounced off the top of the right field wall. Schmidt struggled to keep the Red Sox off the bases, but got ground balls when he needed them by inducing a double play in the second, third and fourth innings to get 12 outs on just 69 pitches.
In the fifth, like every inning so far, the Yanks righty allowed the first runner to reach before there were two on and one out after Devers was hit by the pitch. With runners on the corners and two down, Volpe committed his second throwing error of the night and allowed another run to score.
New York’s starter got the lead in the sixth, but a single hit saw Aaron Boone evoke the throw with the side arm Zach McAllister from the bullpen to retreat to the side. Schmidt’s final line: 5.1 innings, seven hits, four runs, three earned, three walks, three strikeouts on 88 pitches (58 strikes).
– Higashioka would hit a high-flying slider to the 37-foot Green Monster for a double in the top of the fourth and Volpe would double with a go-ahead hit in the fifth, but New York couldn’t capitalize on either chance. After Judge’s grand slam, New York would strand five runners and go 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position for six innings.
– Boston would close things out in the seventh after a single by Rafaela on McAllister and a bloop single by Devers on Wandy Peralta put two without going out. Peralta would keep the ball in the infield with three straight outs, but the tying run would score on a one-out slow roller to third.
– Maurizio Llovera, Boston’s fifth pitcher, got into trouble in the eighth on an infield hit by Volpe and a one-out single by Cabrera. After Higashioka lined out, LeMahieu got his second two-out RBI of the night with a double to put the Yankees up 6-5.
Judge would be intentionally walked to load the bases for Torres, but his 346-foot line drive was tracked by Verdugo just short of the warning track in right, a ball that would have been a home run at Yankee Stadium and four other parks MLB.
– Tommy Kahnle he pitched a clean eighth by retiring the side on 10 pitches and the Yankees got some tacks with a 403-foot pitch and two two-out, two-run pitches by Peraza in the Monster seats.
Kahnle walked Devers with two outs in the ninth, but struck out to end the game and earn the six-out save.
– The Bronx Bombers left nine on base and went 3-for-12 with runners in scoring position, but got six runs off the long ball and eight RBIs with two outs.
The Yankees improved to 74-73 on the season while leading the Red Sox (74-73) to last place in the AL East.
– Stanton, starting from the left wing, could have helped Schmidt in the first defensive phase. He was late to break Devers’ bloop to put two men on and on Abreu’s single he generated no power on his throw home from shallow left. The shot – which would have been off target had it not been blocked – was played with a single hop by the cut man who was deep on the infield grass.
At the plate, Stanton finished 0-for-3 with a walk and stranded three on base. He was raised for Isiah Kiner-Falefa in the seventh.
Highlights
What’s next
The Yankees head to The Steel City for a weekend series against the Pirates.
AL Cy Young Award nominee Gerrit Cole (13-4, 2.79 ERA) gets the ball for the first pitch Friday night at 6:35 p.m. The Buccos will send a right-hander Johan Oviedo (8-14, 4.34 ERA).