Before the game the Boston Red Sox made a roster move. Yairo Munoz has been placed on the Injured List which pretty much ends his season with only 8 games left to play. He was a bright spot for the brief time he was allowed to play. In his place the Sox pulled a name out of a hat and came up with 29 year old utility infielder Cesar Puello last seen hitting a whopping .179 with the Miami Marlins last year. God help us...
The good news was the Boston Celtics defeated the Miami Heat in Game 3 of their NBA East Finals series, the bad news was the New York Yankees defeated the Boston Red Sox. What did Sox fans expect though? The Yankees continued their dominance over the Red Sox with the worst beat down of the season with only seven games left to play. The Yamkees pounded out 8 runs and 11 hits against the AA pitching staff. The Sox also made 3 errors in the field and only got 5 hits of their own. The Sox made JA Happ look like Gerrit Cole and when it was all said and done, the Yankees shut out the Sox for the first time all season. The Yankees have won 10 games in a row including this one over the Sox 8-0 at Fenway Park. How many runs did the Sox score Dean Wormer?
Mazza immediately quivered in fear at the sight of the Yankees in the top of the first inning. DJ LeMahieu laughed as he easily singled to right before Aaron Judge walked. Somehow Brett Gardner whiffed but a passed ball moved both runners over. Luke Voit walked to load the bases and Gio Urshela scored LeMahieu with a sac fly. Frazier singled home Judge to put the Yankees up for good. Mike Tauchman grounded out to second to end the inning but the game was already over 2-0.
Happ effortlessly mowed down the Sox in the bottom of the first as Christian Arroyo whiffed to start. Rafael Devers took strike three right down the middle but somehow Xander Bogaerts got a lucky hit to short. JD Martinez grounded back to the mound to end the inning.
Somehow Mazza got Kyle Higashioka to ground back to him to start the top of the second. Tyler Wade walked but was thrown out trying to steal by the alert Kevin Plawecki. LeMahieu grounded out to second to end the inning. Happ effortlessly shut down the Sox in the bottom of the second as Plawecki grounded weakly to second to start. Jackie Bradley Jr whiffed on a pitch way over his head and Bobby Dalbec hit a weak pop up to center to end the inning.
The Yankees almost got to Mazza in the top of the third although Judge popped up to first to start. Gardner hit a single to left but was thrown out trying to stretch a double...BUT WAIT! Yankees manager Aaron Boone challenged the call and replays showed Gardner was safe. It didn't matter as new Sox player Cesar Puello made a great catch to rob Voit of extra bases and doubled Gardner off of second to end the inning. Once again Happ laughed at the Sox in the bottom of the third as Michael Chavis grounded out weakly to third to start. Puello made his Sox debut by grounding out weakly to second. Arroyo whiffed to end the inning.
The Yankees iced the game in the top of the fourth as Urshela popped up to second to start. Frazier singled to left and Bogaerts ran away screaming from a grounder by Tauchman for an error. Higashioka singled off the glove of Arroyo to score Frazier with another run. Wade hit a double play ball to Bogaerts who stepped on second then turned and heaved the ball into centerfield for an error to score Tauchman with another run. LeMahieu lined out to right to end the inning but the Yankees had iced it on the Bogaerts errors 4-0. That was it for Mazza who stunk again as a "opener".
Think the Sox would fight back in the bottom of the fourth? Not on your life! Devers grounded out weakly to short, Bogaerts lined out meekly to right and Martinez...somehow singled to center. Plawecki popped up to second to end the inning.
Jonathan Arauz came in for Arroyo with Dylan Covey in to pitch the top of the fifth. The Yankees laughed at him as Judge walked to start. Somehow Judge was thrown out trying to steal second but Gardner singled to left. Gardner scored all the way from first base on the Voit hit to left. Urshela struck out swinging but Frazier smashed a home run all the way to the Klingon Homeworld to increase the lead. Tauchman grounded out to first to end the inning with the Yankees ahead 7-0.
Happ cruised in the bottom of the fifth as JBJ grounded out weakly to first to start. Dalbec whiffed at a pitch that bounced in front of the plate and Chavis popped up weakly to right to end the inning.
Somehow Covey got out of the top of the sixth as Higashioka took strike three to start. Wade flied out to left but LeMahieu singled off the glove of Covey. Judge whiffed to end the inning. Puello took strike three to start the bottom of the sixth before Arauz grounded out weakly to second. Devers grounded out meekly to short to end the inning.
Domingo Tapia came on for the top of the seventh and Gardner grounded out to short to start. Voit whiffed but Urshela singled to left. Frazier flied out to right to end the inning. Sadly Tapia was the only bright spot of this game.
Happ effortlessly shut down the Sox in the bottom of the seventh as Bogaerts grounded softly to the mound to start. Martinez hit a weak pop up to right but Plawecki got a miracle double to center. Naturally JBJ whiffed to end the inning.
Robert Stock came in for the top of the eighth and Tauchman struck out swinging to start. Higashioka whiffed but Wade walked. LeMahieu grounded out to second to end the inning. The Sox tried to fight back when Dalbec hit a ground rule double to right to start the bottom of the eighth. Chavis reached on a fielder's choice to put runners at the corners but Puello whiffed. Arauz whiffed and Devers grounded out weakly to third to end the inning. You know you suck when you let Happ 4 years past his prime shut you out for 8 innings.
The Yankees wrapped up the scoring in the top of the ninth as Judge lined out to center to start. Gardner walked and moved to second on a wild pitch. Voit hit a routine grounder to Devers who spiked the ball like a football and Gardner laughed at him all the way to third on the error. Urshela then hit a sac fly to score Gardner but Voit foolishly tried for second and was thrown out to end the inning with the Yankees up 8-0.
Nick Nelson came on for the bottom of the ninth and Bogaerts grounded out weakly to short to start. Martinez somehow singled to left but Plawecki banged into a double play to end the game. The Yankees had won it 8-0.
Jackass of the Night is a tough one since everybody sucked but I'll go with Dylan Covey. Mazza was hampered by bad defense but Covey allowed the game to get completely out of hand.
The Good:
JD Martinez was 2 for 4.
Bobby Dalbec was 1 for 3.
Domingo Tapia pitched a scoreless seventh inning.
The Bad:
Christian Arroyo was 0 for 2 with 2 strikeouts before leaving.
Jonathan Arauz was 0 for 2 with a strikeout.
Rafael Devers was 0 for 4 with a strikeout and an error.
Jackie Bradley Jr was 0 for 3 with 2 strikeouts.
Michael Chavis was 0 for 3.
The Ugly:
Xander Bogaerts was just 1 for 4 with 2 errors.
Kevin Plawecki was just 1 for 4.
Chris Mazza took the loss by allowing 4 runs in 4 innings but only 2 were earned.
Robert Stock allowed an unearned run in 2 innings.
Final Thoughts:
7 more games....7 more games and this nightmare is over. Its bad enough the Boston Red Sox trot out a pitching staff that the Tampa Bay Rays top farm team Durham Bulls would eat for lunch, but to get embarrassed by the Yankees is a whole different story. As New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick would say, the Sox sucked in all three phases of the game. They couldn't hit, couldn't pitch and couldn't field. No runs scored, 8 runs allowed and 3 errors is unacceptable. Its one thing to fight hard and lose like Friday night, its another to get embarrassed. I know Sox fans want to tank but there has to be a better way. The good news for the tanking bandwagoners is that the Sox are now only a half-game ahead of the Texas Rangers for the number 2 overall pick. If the Pittsburgh Pirates are dead set on Kumar Rocker, then the best the Sox can do is pray the Rangers take someone else rather than Jack Leiter. The worst part is even if the Sox by miracle get Rocker or Leiter, they're not going to be ready right away. Roger Clemens was drafted in 83 and still took a year to make his debut. Hell, Andrew Benintendi was drafted in 2015 and took a year to make the 2016 stretch run. Still, if the Sox end up in 3rd and Texas does take Leiter, the Sox could actually take the top bat in the country. Sure they need pitching but whoever the best 5 tool player is, the Sox could grab him. As for this game, whho gives a damn? The loss dropped the Sox to 19-34, last place in the AL East. The Sox look to avoid being swept by the Yankees this season when they send their rookie Tanner Houck (1-0, 0.00 ERA) to the mound up against Deivi Garcia of the Yankees. The game begins at 1:10 PM at Fenway Park.
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