Its a new year despite what ESPN Sunday Night Baseball will have you believe. The Boston Red Sox swept the New York Yankees in a hard fought ten inning game for their first sweep in New York since July 2011. Throughout the broadcast ESPN announcers Matt Vasgersian and Alex Rodriguez acted shocked and appalled that the Red Sox had the unmitigated audacity to stand up to the Yankees and constantly brought up the Yankees dominance a year ago. They failed to mention the dumpster bin pitching the Sox had a year ago and this year its a lot different. The Sox had no time to enjoy their 1-0 lead over Yankees starter Domingo German courtesy of an Alex Verdugo home run because the Yankees took the lead with 4 straight hits off Sox starter Garrett Richards. The Yankees took a 3-1 lead before Richards gone after five innings. Marwin Gonzalez hit a 2 run bomb off of Lucas Luetge to tie the game and Xander Bogaerts hit a sac fly in the seventh to give the Sox the lead. The worn down Matt Barnes failed to close the game out in the bottom of the ninth but Bogaerts stepped up again with a 2 run single in the top of the tenth. Phillips Valdez made it interesting in the bottom of the tenth but did just enough to get the final outs to sweep the Yankees with a 6-5 win at Yankee Stadium.
German got the ball in the top of the first inning and Danny Santana flied out to center to start. Alex Verdugo launched his eighth home run of the season to put Boston on top. Xander Bogaerts grounded out to third and Rafael Devers grounded out to second to end the inning with the Sox up 1-0.
The Yankees pounced on Richards in the bottom of the first as DJ LeMahieu struck out swinging to start. Aaron Judge, Gleyber Torres and Gio Urshela stroked three straight singles to load the bases before Gary Sanchez doubled home Judge and Torres to give the Yankees the lead. Chris Gittens and Clint Frazier both struck out swinging to end the inning with the Yankees up 2-1.
German cruised in the top of the second inning as Hunter Renfroe was retired on a squibber in front of the plate to to start. Marwin Gonzalez grounded out to first and Kike Hernandez took strike three to end the inning. Miguel Andujar grounded out to third to start the bottom of the second before Brett Gardner flied out to center. LeMahieu flied out to right to end the inning.
Christian Vazquez singled to left to start the top of the third but was forced at second by Bobby Dalbec. Santana flied out to left and Verdugo grounded out to second to end the inning. Judge singled to center to start the bottom of the third but Torres grounded into a double play. Urshela and Sanchez stroked back to back base hits but Gittens took strike three to end the inning.
Bogaerts lashed a base hit to left to start the top of the fourth but was thrown out at second trying to stretch a double. Devers struck out swinging but Renfroe walked. Gonzalez flied out to left to end the inning.
The Yankees got another run in the bottom of the fourth as Frazier grounded out to third to start. Andujar singled to center, Gardner walked and LeMahieu walked to load the bases. Judge beat out a double play ball to score Andujar and Torres forced Judge at second to end the inning with the Yankees up 3-1.
Hernandez struck out swinging to start the top of the fifth before Vazquez popped up to first. Dalbec grounded out to third to end the inning. Richards returned for one final inning in the bottom of the fifth as Urshela struck out swinging to start. Sanchez popped up to first and Gittens went down hacking to end the inning. That was it for Richards who lasted just 5 innings and allowed 3 runs.
Santana flied out to left to start the top of the sixth before Verdugo flied out to right. Bogaerts walked and that was it for German. Yankees manager Aaron Boone pulled an Alex Cora and took German out too early. Lucas Luetge came in to pitch and Bogaerts took second on a wild pitch. Devers took strike three to end the inning. Darwinzon Hernandez came in for the bottom of the sixth and walked Frazier to start. Andujar banged into a double play but Gardner walked. LeMahieu took strike three to end the inning.
The Sox struck back in the top of the seventh as Renfroe walked to start. Gonzalez then clobbered a home run just over the left field wall to tie the game. Hernandez earned a hat trick with a swinging strikeout before Vazquez grounded out to third. Dalbec popped up to first to end the inning with the game tied 3-3.
Adam Ottavino came in for the bottom of the seventh as Judge walked to start. Torres flied out to left, Urshela popped up to short and Sanchez popped up to second to end the inning.
The Sox took the lead in the top of the eighth with Wandy Peralta on the mound as Christian Arroyo popped up into shallow right...OFF THE GLOVE OF LEMAHIEU! Arroyo made a mad dash to second on a "double" and took third on a grounder to second by Verdugo. Bogaerts hit a fly ball to deep center to score Arroyo with the go-ahead run. Devers grounded out to first to end the inning but it was 4-3 Sox.
Josh Taylor came in to pitch the bottom of the eighth and Gittens grounded out to short to start. Frazier dropped a base hit to right but Taylor came back to strike out Andujar swinging. Giancarlo Stanton pinch hit for Gardner and Taylor punched him out swinging to end the inning. Great work by Taylor.
Tyler Wade took over in center with Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman now on the mound to start the top of the ninth. Renfroe doubled off the left field wall to start but Gonzalez went down hacking. Renfroe moved over to third on the grounder to short by Hernandez but Vazquez grounded out to short to end the inning. Matt Barnes came in to close out the bottom of the ninth and LeMahieu grounded out to second to start. Judge walked and scored all the way from first on an effortless Torres double to the left field wall. Urshela waived at a curve in the dirt for strike three and Sanchez was intentionally walked. Rougned Odor pinch hit for Gittens and Torres swiped third. Odor was called out on strike three on a blown ball four call to end the inning with the game tied 4-4.
Yankees third base coach Phil Nevin stormed out of the dugout screaming at home plate umpire Gabe Morales and was given the heave ho. Luis Cessa took the mound in the top of the tenth with Vazquez starting at second. Dalbec took a borderline ball four call and Yankees hitting coach Marcus Thames threw a bat at second base umpire Bill Miller. Yankees manager Aaron Boone negotiated that Thames could stay but bench coach Carlos Mendoza had to go. Arroyo dropped down a bunt to move the runners over but Verdugo grounded out to second. Yankees manager Aaron Boone decided to pitch to Bogaerts instead of Devers and Xander stepped up with a base hit to center to score both runners to give the Sox the lead. Devers hit a 390 foot out to center to end the inning with the Sox ahead 6-4.
For some ungodly reason Sox manager Alex Cora sent Phillips Valdez in to close out the bottom of the tenth with Odor starting at second base and naturally hit Frazier to start. Andujar grounded into a double play but Odor moved to third. Wade hit a slow roller to second but Gonzalez threw the ball away to score Odor and move Tyler to third. LeMahieu hit a grounder up the middle but Gonzalez atoned for the error with a great stab and throw to first for the out to end the game. The Sox had swept the Yankees with a 6-5 win in 10 innings.
Hero of the Night is Xander Bogaerts. He put the Sox ahead twice with a sac fly and 2 run single.
The Good:
Christian Arroyo was 1 for 1 with a run scored as a pinch hitter.
Hunter Renfroe was 1 for 2 with 2 walks and a run scored.
Darwinzon Hernandez tossed a scoreless sixth inning.
Adam Ottavino tossed a scoreless seventh inning.
Josh Taylor pitched a scoreless eighth inning.
The Bad:
Danny Santana was 0 for 3.
Rafael Devers was 0 for 5 with 2 strikeouts.
Kike Hernandez was 0 for 4 with a hat trick of 3 strikeouts.
Matt Barnes allowed a run in the bottom of the ninth.
The Ugly:
Alex Verdugo was just 1 for 5 but the one hit was a solo home run.
Marwin Gonzalez was just 1 for 4 but the one hit was a 2 run home run.
Christian Vazquez was just 1 for 4 but scored a run.
Bobby Dalbec was 0 for 3 but walked and scored a run.
Garrett Richards lasted just 5 innings and allowed 3 runs. He allowed 8 hits and 2 walks.
Phillips Valdez earned the save in the bottom of the tenth after allowing an unearned run.
Final Thoughts:
In your face ESPN Sunday Night Baseball. After not even bringing up the fact the Sox didn't try last year, them acting surprised the Sox actually put up a fight in not only this game but the whole series is just plain ignorance. The Yankees offense is just not good anymore it seems like. After MLB deadened the balls after the Yankees and Minnesota Twins set home run records, the Yankees got it the worst. They were a home run or nothing team the last 4 years and when you take 2/3 of the homers away, now you're really in trouble. The Yankees needed a mental error from Matt Barnes to tie the game and a physical error by Gonzalez to get another run in the tenth, otherwise the bats were silenced after the fourth inning. Josh Taylor and Darwinzon Hernandez got the job done big time and this was Boston's 21st comeback win of the season. Devers is in a bit of a slump and he's only hitting 6 batting points better than the red hot Hunter Renfroe. Hopefully he can correct himself because with JD Martinez out with a bad wrist, the Sox are going to need Devers moving forward. All in all the Sox swept the Yankees out of New York for the first time in ten years and put some serious doubt in the minds of the Yankees who felt they had Boston's number the last two years. The win improved the Sox to 36-23, 1 game behind the Tampa Bay Rays for first place in the AL East. Tomorrow afternoon is the makeup game with the Miami Marlins at home. Pablo Lopez goes for the Marlins against Nick Pivetta (6-1, 3.77 ERA) looking to bounce back from his first loss in a Sox uniform. With the Rays and Yankees off, this is a big chance to gain a 1/2 game on both of them with a win. The game begins at 5:10 PM at Fenway Park.
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