After the 6 hour 49 minute marathon the night before, the New York Yankees were in no condition to pitch this game today and the Red Sox pounced on the hapless bunch, pounding them into submission with a bunch of errors thrown in. Joe Kelly (1-0) made his season debut by tossing 7 strong innings. The Sox have played 5 road games so far and have won 4 of them, including this one over the Yankees 8-4 at Yankee Stadium.
Yankees reliever/starter Adam Warren made quick work of the Sox in the top of the 1st. Brock Holt led the game off with a ground-out to first, Dustin Pedroia flied out to center and David Ortiz grounded into the shift to end the inning. Kelly made his season debut with a flurry by striking out Brett Gardner swinging to begin the bottom of the first. Chris Young popped up to Pedroia and Carlos Beltran struck out looking to end the frame.
Mike Napoli led off the top of the 2nd with a routine grounder to Gregorious but A-Rod, the "rookie" first basemen, dropped the throw. Pablo Sandoval advanced Napoli to second with a ground out. Napoli advanced to third on the ground out by Allen Craig. Daniel Nava then lofted a fly ball to Gardner who tripped and fell, the ball bouncing off his glove. Nava scooted to second as Napoli came home to give the Sox a 1-0 lead. The scorers called it a double and an rbi. Xander Bogaerts stepped to the plate then on a 2-2 pitch, catcher John Ryan Murphy was charged with a passed ball that advanced Nava to third. He was stranded when Bogaerts flied out to left to end the frame.
The Yankees struck back in the bottom of the second. A-Rod made up for his error with a single to lead off. Chase Headley flied out but Garrett Jones walked. A wild fastball juuuuuuuust a bit inside that hit the backstop advanced the runners. Murphy walked to load the bases and Didi Gregorious tied the game with a sac fly. Gregorio Petit whiffed on 3 pitches to end the inning. Good job by Kelly to limit the damage but he threw way too many pitches with the game tied 1-1.
Ryan Hanigan grounded out to second to begin the top of the third. Holt got his first hit of the season with a single to center but was erased on the double play by Pedroia to end the inning. Big DP by Warren there as he had thrown 50 pitches in only 2 1/3 up to that point. Kelly recovered with a good bottom of the third. Gardner grounded out to short, Young grounded out to Napoli and Beltran popped up to left to end the inning.
The Sox struck again in the top of the 4th although Ortiz began with a groundout to short to start. Napoli hit a first pitch grounder to first but Sandoval hit a bloop single to center. Craig walked and Nava singled home Sandoval to give the Sox the lead. Bogaerts flied out to the left but the Sox had the lead 2-1 and Warren to 77 pitches in just four innings.
Could Kelly hold the lead in the bottom of the fourth? A-Rod flied out to right, Headley struck out and Jones struck out on a caught foul tip to end the inning. 8 in a row retired by Kelly but oh wait....here comes Joe Girardi to argue the call. The umpires told him to beat it and the game continued.
Hanigan worked a walk to lead off the 5th and Holt singled him to second. The rally went down the drain when Pedroia banged into a double play and Ortiz whiffed to end the inning. Still, Warren appeared done after just 5 innings. Allen Craig made it 9 in a row for Kelly with a running, sliding catch off a fly ball by Murphy to begin the bottom of the 5th. Gregorious grounded out to Napoli and Petit struck out to end the inning. That's 6 K's for "Machine Gun" Kelly and 11 in a row retired. Just what the doctor ordered.
Napoli was now 0 for 16 on the season with a ground-out to Warren to start the top of the 6th. That was it for Warren as Justin Wilson replaced him. Sandoval grounded out to first and Craig struck out looking to end the inning. Kelly earned his 7th strikeout by fanning Gardner to begin the bottom of the 6th. Young popped up to first and Beltran flied out to center to end the inning. 14 in a row retired by Kelly and if the Sox had any kind of offense, this game would be over already.
The Sox broke the game open when Nava led off the top of the 7th with a leadoff walk. That was it for Wilson as former Sox prospect Chris Martin replaced him. Nava was erased on the force by Bogaerts. Bogaerts swiped second and advanced to third when Murphy's throw went into center field. Hanigan grounded one to 3rd, Bogaerts beat out to throw and Hanigan made a mad dash to first...SAFE! Sox lead 3-1 on the single by Hanigan. Holt singled as well and Pedroia drove in both runners with a double to deep center. Pedroia advanced to third on the ground out by Ortiz. Napoli was now 0 for 17 with a ground out to second as the Sox now had a commanding 5-1 lead.
Kelly returned for the bottom of the 7th as Alexi Ogando and Clay Buchholz began warming up. Buchholz was getting some work in before his start tomorrow night of course. A-Rod grounded out to Pedroia on the first pitch, Headley flied out to left and Jones struck out to end the inning. 17 in a row retired, 7 strikeouts, 1 hit allowed....outstanding.
Matt Tracy made his major league debut for the Yankees and Sandoval grounded out to short to begin the top of the 8th. Craig lined out to center and Nava grounded out.....oh wait! Sox manager John Farrell challenged the call and it was revealed Headley's throw pulled A-Rod off the bag, SAFE! The error was charged to Headley after a 2 minute 18 second delay. Bogaerts then lined one off Tracy and sprinted to first, safe. Hanigan walked to load the bases and Holt doubled to right. Nava and Bogaerts scored easy and Hanigan looked up to see nobody covering him so he ran home too. Pedroia grounded out to third to end the inning with the Sox ahead 8-1.
With the game well in hand, Alexi Ogando came on for the bottom of the 8th inning and crapped his pants. Nava made a great running catch on Murphy in left to start before Gregorious struck out swinging. Petit got the first Yankee hit since the second inning with a single to left. Gardner followed with a single and Chris Young cleared them all with a 3 run home run. John Farrell pulled the ineffective Ogando for Anthony Varvaro. Luckily Varvaro struck out Beltran to end the inning. How big was Farrell challenging that call at first now now that the game was 8-4 Sox?
Ortiz popped up to lead off the top of the 9th but Napoli walked and stole second on the strike out by Sandoval. Doesn't have a hit but keeps finding a way to motor around the bases. Craig grounded out to short to end the inning. Robbie Ross Jr came on to close the game out and struck out A-Rod to begin the bottom of the 9th. Headley grounded out to short but Jones doubled to left. Murphy grounded out to third to end the game. YANKEES LOSE, THEEEEEEEE YANKEES LOSE!
Today we have two Heroes of the Night. First, Joe Kelly was outstanding. He threw 7 innings, allowed 1 run on one hit, struck out 7 and retired 17 men in a row.
Brock Holt was the other hero, going 4 for 5 with 3 rbi's and a run scored. He got on base by himself more than the entire Yankee lineup combined through 7 innings.
The Good:
Daniel Nava was 2 for 3 with a walk, 2 rbi's and a run scored.
Anthony Varvaro retired the only man he faced.
Ryan Hanigan walked twice, scored 2 runs and drove in a run.
Robbie Ross Jr pitched a scoreless 9th.
The Bad:
David Ortiz was 0 for 5 with a strikeout.
Alexi Ogando gave up a 3 run bomb by Chris Young in just 2/3's of an inning.
The Ugly:
Dustin Pedroia was just 1 for 5 but his one hit was a 2 run double.
Mike Napoli was 0 for 4 but walked, reached on an error, stole a base and scored a run.
Pablo Sandoval was 1 for 5 with a run scored.
Allen Craig was 0 for 4 but walked.
Xander Bogaerts was just 1 for 4 but scored 2 runs.
Final Thoughts:
Usually hangover games are big trouble but the Sox rose to the challenge. They were much crisper on defense and at the plate. Joe Kelly was outstanding and through the first 5 games of the season, the team is essentially a bad night of wind in Philly away from being undefeated. Its nice to see new people step on offense every day. Last night it was Bogaerts, today it was Holt. Who would have thought the Sox would be the one sticking it to the Yankees when Boston supposedly has "no rotation"? Tomorrow night the Sox go for the sweep with Clay Buchholz )1-0) going up against Masahiro Tanaka at 8:05 PM at Yankee Stadium.
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