Sale took the mound in the top of the 1st inning and Neil Walker popped up to first to start. Aaron Judge lashed a single to left but the slumping Giancarlo Stanton whiffed on a high fastball. Gary Sanchez grounded into a force to end the inning. Severino got tagged early in the bottom of the first inning when Mookie Betts hit one off the Monster for a double to start. Andrew Benintendi drew a walk and Hanley Ramirez singled up the middle to score Betts advancing Benny to third. JD Martinez was rung up on a half-assed check swing for strike three but Rafael Devers walked to load the bases. The rally ended as Eduardo Nunez broke his bat lining out to first and Jackie Bradley Jr whiffed at a pitch up in his eyes to end the inning but the Sox led 1-0.
Sale came back for the top of the second inning and tagged out Didi Gregorious on a swinging bunt. Tyler Austin blooped a check swing single to right but Miguel Andujar flied out to left. Austin Romine was rung up on as check swing in the dirt to end the inning. Christian Vazquez led off the bottom of the second and poked a single up the middle. Brock Holt looked at strike three but Betts singled to left. Benintendi cleared the bases with a triple to increase the lead. Ramirez singled home Benny but Martinez flied out to the right field wall. Ramirez caught Sanchez asleep with a steal of second, advancing to third on the bad throw. Devers grounded out to third to end the inning but the Sox led 4-0.
Sale got Shane Robinson to pop up to second to begin the top of the third but Walker singled in the hole at short. Judge singled to left but Stanton once again whiffed on a high fastball. Sanchez whiffed as well to end the inning. Nunez started the bottom of the third by grounding out to second before JBJ flied out to center. Vazquez grounded out to short to end the inning.
Gregorius singled to start the top of the fourth but Austin was rung up on a check swing strike three. Andujar whiffed and Romine also struck out to end the inning. Holt watched strike three go by to start the bottom of the fourth before Betts walked. Benintendi doubled Betts to third and Mookie scored on the sac fly by Ramirez. Benintendi moved to third on the sac fly but Martinez grounded out to short to end the inning but the Red Sox were up 5-0.
The Yankees struck back in the top of the fifth although Sale whiffed Robinson to open. Walker flied out to center but Judge blasted a 70,000 foot solo home run. Stanton singled to center but Sanchez hit one up the elevator shaft to in the inning, with the Red Sox leading 5-1.
The Sox mustered nothing in the bottom of the fifth as Devers struck out to start. Nunez flied out to center but JBJ singled to left. Vazquez struck out to end the inning.
As usual Gregorius singled to start the top of the sixth inning but Austin flied out to left. Andujar flied out to left but Romine hit one up the elevator shaft to end the inning. That was it for Sale who had tossed 6 innings of 1 run ball while striking out 8.
Tommy Kahnle replaced Severino for the bottom of the sixth and the Red Sox pounded him. Holt grounded out to first but Betts doubled. Benintendi and Ramirez drew back to back walks before Marrtinez hit the kill shot with a double off the Monster that scored two runners. Devers hit a sac fly to score Ramirez and Nunez walked to chase Kahnle. Chasen Shreve came in and JBJ was hit with a pitch to load the bases and Vazquez hit a routine grounder to Andujar....BOOTED! Martinez scored and the bases were re-loaded. Holt walked to drive in a run and Betts put the exclamation point on with a grand slam to send the crowd into a frenzy. Benintendi grounded out to second but the Sox pounded out 9 runs that had Yankee fans running out of Fenway screaming with their arms flailing over their heads with Boston up 14-1.
The Sox emptied the bench in the top of the seventh with Joe Kelly now on the mound. Sox manager Alex Cora wanted to limit Sale's innings and pitches early in the season and this was the perfect time to take him out after 87 pitches with a huge lead. Blake Swihart replaced Ramirez while playing third and Tzu-Wei Lin came in for Nunez now playing short with Holt at second. Robinson singled and Tyler Wade pinch hit for Walker only to force Shane at second. Judge banged into a double play to end the inning. Shreve returned for the bottom of the seventh and struck out the side. Swihart, Martinez and Devers all whiffed in short order.
Brian Johnson took over for the top of the eighth and Stanton greeted him with a double. Sanchez flied out to right, Grgeorius popped up to short and Austin flied out to right to end the inning. Ronald Torreyes replaced Stanton in the lineup but took over at second with Wade taking Stanton's spot in the field with Luis Cessa now on the mound for the bottom of the eighth. Lin whiffed, JBJ grounded out to second and Vazquez lined out to first to end the inning.
Johnson returned for the top of the ninth to finish off the Yankees. Andujar watched strike three go by by before Romine whiffed. Robinson walked but Wade grounded out to first to end the game. The Sox had curbstomped the Yankees 14-1.
Hero of the Night is Mookie Betts. He almost single handedly wiped out the Yankees by going 4 for 5 with a walk, FIVE runs scored and a grand slam.
The Good:
Andrew Benintendi was 2 for 3 with 2 walks, 2 runs scored and 2 rbis.
Hanley Ramirez was 2 for 2 with a walk, stolen base, run scored and 3 rbis.
Chris Sale finally beat the Yankees by tossing 6 innings of 1 run ball while striking out 8 on just 87 pitches.
Joe Kelly pitched a scoreless 7th inning.
Brian Johnson tossed 2 scoreless innings.
The Bad:
Blake Swihart struck out in his only plate appearance.
Tzu-Wei Lin struck out in his only plate appearance.
The Ugly:
JD Martinez was just 1 for 5 but drove in 2 runs and scored.
Rafael Devers was 0 for 3 but walked and drove in a run.
Eduardo Nunez was 0 for 3 but walked and scored.
Jackie Bradley Jr was just 1 for 4 but scored a run.
Christian Vazquez was just 1 for 5 but scored 2 runs.
Brock Holt was 0 for 3 but walked, drove in a run and scored.
Final Thoughts:
All winter long Sox fans and personnel had to listen to Yankee fans gloat about getting Stanton, how Severino was the new Pedro Martinez, how the Yankees "owned" Sale and how the Yankees dominated the Sox in 2017. Well all that went right out the window in tonight's game. Not that the Yankees can't win 11 out of 19 like they did last year, but Sale finally won a game, Severino was mortal and the Sox offense scored one fewer run tonight than the Sox did in their first NINE games against the Yankees last year. Take a look at 2017:
April 26 - 1 run
April 27 - 0 runs
June 6 - 4 runs
June 7 - 0 runs
June 8 - 1 run
July 14 - 5 runs
July 15 - 1 run
July 16 game 1 - 0 runs
July 16 game 2 - 3 runs
Also keep in mind that July 15th game went 16 innings. The Sox scored 15 runs TOTAL in those 9 games and scored 14 tonight. Again, that's not to say that the Yankees can't beat them that bad this season but tonight's win was better than nothing. Tonight's offensive output by Betts, Benintendi and Ramirez is what they SHOULD have had last year. A lot of experts say that Ramirez bought into Cora's approach and Ramirez himself was quoted to saying he played all of last year "with one shoulder". So if Ramirez is healthy and committed, Benintendi is as solid as he has been since his call-up in 2016 and if Betts shedded his "pull everything" image, this is a dangerous lineup that will be even more dangerous when Martinez heats up along with Devers maturing plus Xander Bogaerts and Dustin Pedroia returning from injury. The Yankees offense is scary but the Sox can be equally scary if they can put it all together, tonight was one of those night that they did. Tomorrow night will probably be different when Masahiro Tanaka goes for the Yankees against David Price (1-0, 0.00 ERA). Last April Tanaka threw a complete game, 3 hit shutout on just 87 pitches. The Sox will look to reverse that at 7:10 PM at Fenway Park.
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