Before the game the Boston Red Sox honored the career of the recently retired Dustin Pedroia by having a ceremony in front of a packed crowd at Fenway Park. Pedroia was the sparkplug of two championship winning teams (2007, 2013) before his career was cut short by injuries in the last couple of years. He will be missed.
As for the game, what better way to honor the career of Dustin Pedroia by putting on a bullpen clinic to beat the New York Yankees? In a crucial series between the two teams a few weeks before the all-star break, the Sox drew first blood on the struggling Yankees. The Sox jumped out to a 3-0 lead on Domingo German after the first inning but the Yankees knocked around Sox starter Martin Perez to tie the game. Christian Vazquez broke the deadlock with an rbi in the bottom of the third and Perez was lifted with 2 outs in the fourth inning. Hiro Sawamura, ex-Yankees Garrett Whitlock & Adam Ottavino and Matt Barnes slammed the door with 5 1/3 innings of lights out pitching. The Sox needed to rebound after dropping 2 of 3 to the Tampa Bay Rays and they did by knocking off the Yankees 5-3 at Fenway Park.
Perez got the ball in the top of the first inning and DJ LeMahieu grounded out to third to start. Aaron Judge flied out to right and Gary Sanchez struck out swinging to end the inning. The Sox wasted no time getting to German in the bottom of the first as Michael Chavis led off with a base hit to right. Alex Verdugo ripped a base hit to center but JD Martinez lined out to center. Chavis stole third and Xander Bogaerts cleared the bases with a double to center. Rafael Devers struck out swinging but Hunter Renfroe doubled home Bogaerts to increase the lead. Kike Hernandez struck out swinging to end the inning with the Sox ahead 3-0.
The Yankees answered in the top of the second as Giancarlo Stanton walked to start. Luke Voit singled to center but Gleyber Torres took strike three. Gio Urshela hit a routine grounder to Bogaerts who dove on the ball and punched at it for an error to load the bases. Somehow Perez froze Miguel Andujar for strike three but walked the .182 hitting Clint Frazier to score Stanton. Naturally LeMahieu effortlessly singled home both Voit and Urshela to tie the game. Judge grounded out to third to end the inning but the Yankees had tied it 3-3.
The Sox blew a rally in the bottom of the second as Christian Vazquez singled to center to start. Naturally Marwin Gonzalez struck out swinging, Chavis flied out to right and Verdugo grounded out to short to end the inning.
The Yankees almost finished off Perez in the top of the third although Sanchez grounded out to third to start. Stanton beat out an infield single to short and Voit easily singled to right. Somehow Torres banged into a double play to end the inning. The Sox took command in the bottom of the third as Martinez walked to start. A wild pitch moved JD to second and took third when German booted a grounder by Bogaerts. Renfroe scored Martinez with a sac fly but Hernandez grounded out to third to end the inning with the Sox ahead 4-3.
The Sox D stepped up big in the top of the fourth as Urshela doubled to left to begin. Andujar ripped a base hit to right and Urshela came around third. Renfroe fired home....OUT! Urshela was cut down and Hernandez had to make a jumping catch to rob Frazier of a triple. Sox manager Alex Cora had enough of Perez giving up rockets and pulled him for the A-Team. Hiro Sawamura came in and got LeMahieu to ground into a force to end the inning.
The Sox did nothing in the bottom of the fourth as Vazquez flied out to right to start. Gonzalez tried to bunt his way on but German snuffed it out before Chavis lined out to left to end the inning.
Judge flied out to center to start the top of the fifth before Sanchez walked. Stanton and Voit both struck out swinging to end the inning.
Lucas Luetge came in to pitch the bottom of the fifth and Verudgo grounded out to second to start. Martinez popped up to second and Bogaerts flied out to center to end the inning.
Garrett "The Lock" Whitlock came in for the top of the sixth and Torres grounded out to short to start. Urshela struck out swinging but Andujar singled to right. Frazier struck out swinging to end the inning. The Sox blew a rally in the bottom of the sixth as Devers whiffed to start. Renfroe walked but Hernandez went down hacking as well. Vazquez walked to chase Luetge. Jonathan Loaisiga came in to pitch and Gonzalez flied out to center to end the inning.
The Lock got the Yankees to beat the ball in the dirt in the top of the seventh. LeMahieu grounded out to short, Judge grounded out to third and Sanchez also grounded out to third to end the inning.
The Sox managed to strike out four times in one inning as Chavis swung at a pitch headed to the backstop, making it to first base on the wild pitch. Verdugo, Martinez and Bogaerts all went down hacking to end the inning.
Adam Ottavino came in to pitch the top of the eighth inning and Stanton took strike three to start. Voit went down hacking and Torres lined out to center to end the inning.
Zack Britton came on for the bottom of the eighth and Devers popped up to second to start. All of a sudden Britton called for the trainer and sure enough, he had to come out of the game with an unknown injury. Luis Cessa came in and Renfroe walked to start the rally. Renfroe moved to second on the Hernandez grounder to third but Vazquez lashed a base hit to right to score Hunter. Gonzalez singled to left but Chavis struck out swinging to end the inning with the Sox up 5-3.
"Oh yeah, I'm the man. I'm the man!" - CV
Matt Barnes came in to close out the top of the ninth and Urshela beat out a roller to short to start. Andujar singled to left and Tyler Wade pinch ran for him. Barnes struck out Frazier swinging on a nasty curve and Brett Gardner came in to run for Urshela. LeMahieu banged into a double play to end the game after an unsuccessful challenge by Yankees manager Aaron Boone. The Sox had won it 5-3.
Hero of the Night is Hunter Renfroe. He drove in 2 big runs and cut down Urshela at the plate to keep the Sox ahead.
The Good:
Christian Vazquez was 2 for 3 with a walk and an rbi.
Hiro Sawamura tossed 1 1/3 scoreless innings.
Garrett Whitlock pitched 2 scoreless inning to get the win.
Adam Ottavino pitched a scoreless eighth inning.
Matt Barnes earned his 16th save with a scoreless ninth inning.
The Bad:
Rafael Devers was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts.
Kike Hernandez was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts.
Martin Perez allowed 3 runs in 3 2/3 innings.
The Ugly:
Michael Chavis was just 1 for 5 with 2 strikeouts but stole a base and scored a run.
Alex Verdugo was just 1 for 4 with a strikeout but scored a run.
JD Martinez was 0 for 3 with a strikeout but walked and scored a run.
Xander Bogaerts was just 1 for 4 with an error and strikeout but drove in two runs, scoring one in the process.
Marwin Gonzalez was just 1 for 4 with a strikeout.
Final Thoughts:
Yankee fans back in March were laughing at the Red Sox for signing Ottavino after he sucked last year and glad-handing each other saying Whitlock would turn out to be nothing. Ottavino has allowed just one run since May 9th and Whitlock is now 3-1 with a 1.49 ERA....bet the Yankees wish they could have that. The Sox are now 4-0 against the Yankees to start this season and they've done it with timely offense and shut down pitching. The A-Team stepped up with 5 1/3 scoreless innings and the Sox got big hits from Renfroe, Bogaerts and Vazquez. The Sox as a team only had 7 hits and hopefully the offense picks up as the summer goes on. Bogaerts, Devers and Martinez should be hitting balls to New Hampshire now that umpires are cracking down on illegal substances. Still, Yankee fans were guaranteeing the Sox would be way behind them and the Rays back in May and the Sox could very well go into July in first place if they play well enough. As good as the bullpen was, the Sox rotation has been hot garbage this month even before the crack down. The Sox are gonna need Tanner Houck to make a comeback because they need some help before Chris Sale returns. Still, that's a ways off and the Sox at least won tonight. The win improved the Sox to 45-31, 1/2 game behind the Rays for first place in the AL East. The Sox look to make it two in a row over the Yankees tomorrow night when Nathan Eovaldi (7-4,3.90 ERA) takes on Jordan Montgomery of the Yankees. The game begins at 7:10 PM at Fenway Park.
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