The Yankees took a three-run lead in the second, and let the Red Sox claw their way back into the game, but a two-RBI double in the eighth proved the difference in New York’s 8-5 victory over Boston to earn a split in the doubleheader at Fenway Park.
Here are the takeaways…
– Boston goes first under the first starter Clarke Schmidt with a pair of bloop singles started things off for the Sox. The Yankees tried a 3-6-1 double play and got one on second base, but Anthony VolpeIt’s a wide throw to the bag that allows the leadoff man Ceddanne Rafaela to 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 Wilyer AbreuLiner to left scored Alex Verdugo from second to make it 2-0.
– It’s a bullpen game for the Red Sox and after Nick Robertson work without score first, Brennan Bernardino greeted by Estevan Florialsingle to left before Oswald Peraza dropped a one-out double and Oswaldo Cabrera walked 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 three straight pitches. but DJ LeMahieu just beat the throw from the second baseman Pablo Reyes on a bouncer up the middle, a call that was overturned by a Yanks challenge, for two RBI.
That rush is allowed Aaron Judge at bat and he tossed a 2-0 center-cut fastball 110 mph off the bat and 418 feet into center for a grand slam to put New York up 5-2.
A Gleyber Torres single and Giancarlo Stanton The walk gave the Yankees another RBI chance, but Florial grounded out to second to leave both stranded.
– Rafael Devers would grab his second hit of the night with a first-pitch homer to start the bottom of the third on a ball that caromed over the right field wall. Schmidt struggled to keep the Red Sox off the bases but got ground balls when he needed them inducing double-play balls in the second, third, and fourth innings to get 12 outs in just 69 innings. pitches.
In the fifth, as in every inning thus far, the Yanks’ righty allowed the first runner to reach before there were two on and one out after Devers was hit by a pitch. With runners on the corners and two down, Volpe made his second throwing error of the night and allowed another run to score.
The New York starter got the leadoff man in the sixth, but saw a one-out single Aron Boone summon the side arm throw Zach McAllister from the bullpen to retire 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 hanging slider high over the 37-foot Green Monster for a double to start the fourth and Volpe would double with one out in the fifth, but New York failed to capitalize on either opportunity. After Judge’s grand slam, New York stranded five runners and went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position through six innings.
– Boston would tie things up in the seventh after a single by Rafaela off McAllister and a bloop single by Devers off Wanda Peralta put both without outside. Peralta kept the ball in the infield with three straight ground outs, but the tying run would score on a one-out slow roller to third.
– Mauricio Llovera, Boston’s fifth pitcher, ran into trouble in the eighth on an infield hit by Volpe and a one-out single from Cabrera. After Higashioka lined out, LeMahieu got his second two RBI of the night with a double to put the Yankees up 6-5.
Judge intended to walk to load the bases for Torres but his 346-foot line drive was tracked by Verdugo just shy of the warning track in right, a home run ball in Yankee Stadium and four other MLB parks.
– Tommy Kahnle Pitched a clean eighth retiring the side on 10 pitches and the Yankees got some tack-on runs with a two-out, two-run 403-foot two-run shot by Peraza into the Monster seats .
Kahnle walked Devers with two outs in the ninth but struck out the side to end it and earn six saves.
– The Bronx Bombers left nine on base and went 3-for-12 with runners in scoring position, but had six runs off the longball and had eight two-out RBI.
The Yankees improved to 74-73 on the season to put the Red Sox (74-73) in last place in the AL East.
– Stanton, who started in left field, should have helped Schmidt in the first defense. He was late on Devers’ bloop to put two men on and on Abreu’s single he had no power as he threw home from shallow left. The shot – which would have been off target if it hadn’t been cut – was played on a jump cutoff man who was deep in the grass.
At the plate, Stanton finished 0-for-3 with a walk and stranded three on base. He was lifted up 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 Candidate Gerrit Cole (13-4, 2.79 ERA) will get the ball rolling for Friday night’s 6:35 pm first pitch. The Buccos will send the right-hander Johan Oviedo (8-14, 4.34 ERA).
