The Sox made Sabathia work in the top of the first inning although Mr. Mookie Betts grounded out to short to start. Andrew Benintendi grounded out to first but Steve Pearce and JD Martinez stroked back to back singles. Xander Bogaerts walked to load the bases but Ian Kinsler missed a grand slam by 5 feet, flying out to the left field wall to end the inning. Porcello dominated the bottom of the first by getting Aaron Hicks to fly out to center on the first pitch. Aaron Judge grounded out to short also on the first pitch before Didi Gregorius whiffed to end the inning.
The Sox did nothing against Sabathia in the top of the second as Eduardo Nunez flied out to right to begin. Jackie Bradley Jr whiffed but Christian Vazquez walked. Mr. Mookie flied out to right to end the inning. Porcello got Giancarlo Stanton to ground out to third to begin the bottom of the second. Luke Voit grounded out to third but Neil Walker singled. Gary Sanchez grounded out to short to end the inning.
The Sox struck first in the top of the third when Benintendi was plunked to start the inning and Pearce singled him to third. Martinez scored Benintendi with a sac fly to put the Sox on top. Bogaerts advanced Pearce to second with a groundout before a wild pitch moved Pearce to third. Kinsler doubled over the head of Brett Gardner to score Pearce before a Nunez single scored Kinsler with another run. JBJ grounded out to first to end the inning but the Sox had a 3-0 lead.
Could Porcello pitch with the lead? YES! Gleyber Torres lined out to a running Benintendi to begin the bottom of the third. Gardner grounded out to second and Hicks popped up to third to end the inning.
That was it for Sabathia but Yankees manager Aaron Boone made a weird decision to warm up David Robertson warming up in the third inning but Boone went with Zach Britton to pitch the top of the fourth. Vazquez made him pay with a piece of crap pop up home run to right just over the head of Judge to increase the lead. Mr. Mookie and Benintendi whiffed and Pearce grounded out to end the inning but the Sox were up 4-0.
Porcello got some help from his defense in the bottom of the fourth as Mr. Mookie made a running catch to rob Judge of a hit to start. Gregorius doubled and moved to third on the Stanton grounder before Voit grounded out to third to end the inning.
The Sox did nothing in the top of the fifth as Martinez grounded out to short to start. Bogaerts beat out an infield single but Kinsler struck out. Nunez lined out to right to end the inning. The Yankees finally struck back in the bottom of the fifth although Walker lined out to a running JBJ to start. Sanchez smacked a ground rule double and Torres singled him to third. Gardner scored Sanchez with a sac fly to put the Yankees on the board. Hicks popped up to second to end the inning and that was it for Porcello. Rick stepped up with 5 innings of 1 run ball to keep the Yankees in check down 4-1.
David Robertson came in to shut down the Sox in the top of the sixth and JBJ grounded out to third to start. Vazquez and Mr. Mookie whiffed to end the inning. Dr. Quick Hook decided Porcello shouldn't face the Yankees another time through the order and turned the game over to the much maligned bullpen. Matt Barnes was first out of the chute in the bottom of the sixth and Judge grounded out to short to start. Gregorius popped up to third and Stanton grounded out to short to end the inning. Good work Barnes.
The Sox did nothing in the top of the seventh when Benitendi whiffed to start. Pearce whiffed but Martinez walked to chase Robertson. Dellin Betances was summoned and Bogaerts grounded out to short to end the inning. It was Ryan Brasier's turn in the bottom of the seventh and Voit flied out to right to begin. Walker whiffed and Brasier got the last laugh on Sanchez by getting him to pop up to second to end the inning.
The Sox were screwed out of a chance to add some insurance in the top of the eighth although Kinsler whiffed to start. Nunez doubled and JBJ reached first on an error by Voit to put runners at the corners. JBJ swiped second but Vazquez whiffed. Mr. Mookie was intentionally walked and home plate umpire Angel Hernandez called a strike 3 pitch to Benintendi nowhere near the strike zone to end the inning. None other than Chris Sale was summoned to pitch the bottom of the eighth. Torres flied out to center before Andrew McCutchen pinch hit for Gardner only to ground out to third to end the inning. Hicks was frozen for strike three to end the inning. The Sox were 3 outs away from the ALCS.
Aroldis Chapman cruised in the top of the ninth as Pearce flied out to right to start. Martinez grounded out to short and Bogaerts looked at strike three to end the inning. Craig "The Buzzard" Kimbrel was summoned for the save....and crapped his pants. Judge walked on four pitches not even close and Gregorius singled. Kimbrel got a big out when Stanton waived at a pitch outside for strike three. Voit walked to load the bases and Walker was plunked to force in a run and reload the bases. Sanchez came within 5 feet of a grand slam but was robbed at the left field wall by Benintendi. Gregorius scored to cut the lead to 1 but there were two outs. Torres then hit a bounding ball to Nunez who fired to first. Pearce stretched and...OUT! THAT'S I,.....oh wait. Yankees manager Aaron Boone delayed the celebration by challenging the call for no reason other than desperation. Head of MLB Operations Joe Torre DEMANDED the call be overturned and the game continued....but the umpires ignored him and the call upheld. IT'S OVER! THE RED SOX WIN! Bring on the Astros!
Hero of the Night is Rick Porcello. He held the high powered Yankees down for 5 strong innings and the Sox carried that momentum to victory.
The Good:
Steve Pearce was 2 for 5 with a run scored.
JD Martinez was 1 for 3 with a walk and an rbi.
Eduardo Nunez was 2 for 4 with an rbi.
Christian Vazquez was 1 for 3 with a walk, rbi and a run scored.
Matt Barnes pitched a scoreless 6th inning.
Ryan Brasier pitched a scoreless 7th inning.
Chris Sale pitched a scoreless 8th inning.
The Bad:
None
The Ugly:
Mookie Betts was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts but walked.
Andrew Benintendi was 0 for 4 with a hat trick of 3 strikeouts but was hit with a pitch and scored a run.
Xander Bogaerts was just 1 for 4 but walked.
Ian Kinsler was just 1 for 4 but drove in a run and scored.
Jackie Bradley Jr was 0 for 4 with a strikeout but stole a base.
Craig Kimbrel pitched terribly but giving up 2 runs in the ninth but held on for the save to end the game.
Final Thoughts:
Goodbye New York. Its always extra special to beat the Yankees because of how arrogant the fans and their organization is. The 100 win Yankees are out with just 2 post-season wins while the Sox are moving on to the American League Championship Series. The Sox needed to get over the hump because of their 1-6 record the previous two years and finally they pulled through. The Sox did it with great starting pitching from Sale, Nathan Eovaldi and Porcello along with timely hitting (sans Game 3). The bullpen tonight was pretty good apart from Kimbrel so hopefully that was just a hiccup for Kimbrel like Koji Uehara giving up a bomb to Jose Lobaton in 2013. The Yankees looked more like the Sox last year with lousy starting pitching and an offense with a deer in the headlights look. The Sox are going to have to change directions fast because the Houston Astros are the defending world champs and will not be intimidated by Fenway Park. Still, the Sox can worry about Houston later because tonight its party time. Before the season when Derek Jeter almost literally handed Giancarlo Stanton to the Yankees experts picked them as odds on favorite to win the World Series and the Sox got no respect. Even when the Sox won the division and set a franchise record for wins, people scoffed saying they were a "regular season team". Not anymore they're not. They earned the series win and should enjoy every second of it. The Sox return home for Game 1 of the ALCS against the Houston Astros with Chris Sale the probable starter for the Sox opposite Justin Verlander....we think. Either way the game starts at 8:00 PM at Fenway Park.
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