Pop the champagne corks because the Boston Red Sox FINALLY won a series against an AL East opponent. Tonight the Sox took their frustrations out on the reeling New York Yankees. Michael Wacha (7-1, 2.44 ERA) came off the Injured List to toss 7 shutout innings, holding the Yankees to just two measly hits. Once again the Sox offense was held in check as Jameson Taillon held Boston to just 6 hits themselves. The problem for Taillon is one of the hits happened to be a two run bomb by Rafael Devers to give the Sox a 3-0 lead. After Wacha was done, Ryan Brasier and Garrett "The Lock" Whitlock finished off the Yankees to send them to their 9th loss in 11 games. If only the Sox didn't suck in July they might have made things interesting in the AL East. As it is, the Sox took 2 out of 3 from the Yankees with a 3-0 victory at Fenway Park.
Wacha got the ball in the top of the first inning and Andrew Benintendi struck out swinging to start. Aaron Judge grounded out to short and Josh Donaldson grounded out to third to end the inning. Taillon got the ball in the bottom of the first and Tommy Pham greeted him with a double to center to begin. Rafael Devers grounded out to first to move Tommy to third and Xander Bogaerts grounded out to short to score Pham to put the Sox on top. Alex Verdugo grounded out to second to end the inning with the Sox ahead 1-0.
Anthony Rizzo struck out swinging to start the top of the second before Gleyber Torres popped up to first. Miguel Andujar lined one off of Wacha but Christian Arroyo threw him out to end the inning. JD Martinez ripped a base hit up the middle to start the bottom of the second but Eric Hosmer struck out swinging. Arroyo popped up to short and Jarren Duran flied out to left to end the inning.
Isiah Kiner took strike three to start the top of the third before Kyle Higashioka grounded out to short. Tim Locastro flied out to center to end the inning. Kevin Plawecki lined out to center to start the bottom of the third but Pham ripped a base hit to center. Devers also singled to center but Bogaerts banged into a double playn to end the inning.
Benintendi struck out swinging again to start the top of the fourth before Judge went down hacking. Donaldson flied out to center to end the inning. Verdugo lined out to left to start the bottom of the fourth before Martinez grounded out to short. Hosmer struck out swinging again to end the inning.
Rizzo grounded out to second to start the top of the fifth before Torres popped up to first. Andujar broke up the perfect game with a base hit to center before swiping second base. Kiner walked but Higashioka grounded out to third to end the inning. Arroyo struck out swinging to start the bottom of the fifth before Duran grounded out to second. Plawecki lined out to Taillon to end the inning.
Locastro grounded out to third to start the top of the sixth but Benintendi got a base hit to left. Judge earned the hat trick by striking out swinging and Donaldson went down hacking to end the inning. The Sox struck again in the bottom of the sixth as Pham lined a base hit to right and Devers drilled his 25th home run of the season to increase the lead. Bogaerts grounded out to third, Verdugo popped up to third and Martinez went down hacking to end the inning with the Sox ahead 3-0.
Wacha returned for one final inning in the top of the seventh and Rizzo struck out swinging to start. Torres lined out to center and Andujar swung at air to end the inning. Wacha was dominant, allowing just two hits and striking out 9 in 7 shutout innings.
Hosmer grounded back to the mound to start the bottom of the seventh before Arroyo also grounded weakly back to Taillon. Duran flied out to the centerfield wall to end the inning.
Ryan Brasier came in to pitch the top of the eighth and Kiner grounded out to third to start. Higashioka lined out to center and Locastro popped up to short to end the inning. Jonathan Loaisiga came in to pitch the bottom of the eighth and Plawecki grounded out to first to start. Pham grounded back to the mound and Devers lined out to center to end the inning.
Garrett "The Lock" Whitlock came in to pitch the top of the ninth and Benintendi earned the hat trick by striking out swinging. Judge earned the golden sombrero by striking out swinging and Donaldson grounded out to Arroyo to end the game. In just 2 hours and 15 minutes the Sox beat the Yankees 3-0.
Sox win
Hero of the Night is Michael Wacha. He tossed a 2 hit 7 inning shutout against the Yankees walking just 1 and striking out 9.
The Good:
Tommy Pham was 3 for 4 with 2 runs scored.
Rafael Devers was 2 for 4 with a 2 run home run.
JD Martinez was 1 for 3.
Ryan Brasier tossed a scoreless eighth inning.
Garrett Whitlock earned his 4th save with a scoreless ninth inning.
The Bad:
Alex Verdugo was 0 for 3.
Eric Hosmer was 0 for 3 with 2 strikeouts.
Christian Arroyo was 0 for 3 with a strikeout.
Jarren Duran was 0 for 3.
Kevin Plawecki was 0 for 3.
The Ugly:
Xander Bogaerts was 0 for 3 but drove in a run.
Final Thoughts:
How sad is it that it took until halfway through August for the Sox to beat an AL East team in a series? Also who would have thought that the worst team in the AL East would be the Red Sox by this point? Still, the Sox have won 3 out of 4 including the makeup game against the Baltimore Orioles so if they're gonna play spoilers, they've done a good job the last five games. Its sad that Wacha hasn't been able to be healthy all year because he's been dominant when he's able to pitch. The Yankees are in a funk but the bullpen seems to have worked itself out with Whitlock in the closer's role and Tanner Houck as a set up man (when he comes off the Injured List). Pham had a hell of a game to set up the Devers blast but otherwise the Sox offense accomplished little again. Duran and Plawecki are automatic outs and for some reason Sox manager Alex Cora insists on playing Plawecki over Reese McGuire and the results are as expected. That's the price for sacrificing Christian Vazquez but this season is lost anyway. At least the Sox are cutting down on the errors and Arroyo & Hosmer aren't automatic outs like Franchy Cordero and Jackie Bradley Jr were. All in all it was a good win and shockingly just over 2 hours instead of the usual 4. The win improved the sox to 57-59, 4.5 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays for the third wild card spot. After an off-day tomorrow the Sox are back in action Tuesday night in Pittsburgh for some Interleague play against the Pirates. Nick Pivetta (8-9, 4.51 ERA) takes on Mitch Keller of the Pirates. The game begins at 7:05 PM at PNC Park.
No comments:
Post a Comment