Yankees Sweep Sox in Rain Shortened Game (9/25/22)

Mother Nature is a New York Yankees fan apparently. Tonight's game between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees was shortened due to rain to give the Yankees a four game sweep of the incompetent Sox. Nestor Cortes had thrown a 1 hit shutout through six innings while the Yankees put up 2 runs against Brayan Bello (2-7, 4.39 ERA). The insult to injury is Rob Refsnyder dropped a routine pop up for a run scoring error in the bottom of the sixth. When the rains came after the sixth inning, MLB looked at how the Sox had no chance to win and there were no off-days left. The game was called and the Yankees had completed the sweep 2-0 at Yankee Stadium.

                                                  Sox fans leaving Yankee Stadium angry

Cortes got the ball in the top of the first and Enrique Hernandez lined out to right to start. Tommy Pham grounded out to second but Xander Bogaerts walked. JD Martinez flied out to right to end the inning. Bello got the ball in the bottom of the first and Aaron Judge doubled to left to start. Anthony Rizzo grounded out to first to move Judge to third but Gleyber Torres popped up to right. Oswaldo Cabrera grounded out to short to end the inning.

Rob Refsnyder flied out to right to start the top of the second and Triston Casas grounded out to third. Bobby Dalbec grounded out to second to end the inning. Harrison Bader popped up to second to start the bottom of the second and Aaron Hicks popped up to first. Jose Trevino grounded out to first to end the inning.

Yu Chang grounded out to third to begin the top of the third and Connor Wong struck out swinging. Hernandez struck out swinging to end the inning. Marwin Gonzalez lined out to short to start the bottom of the third but Oswald Peraza got a base hit to left. Judge walked but Rizzo popped up to third. Torres grounded back to the mound to end the inning.

Pham walked to start the top of the fourth but Bogaerts flied out to left. Martinez flied out to center but Refsnyder hit a ground rule double down the left field line. Casas took strike three to end the inning. The Yankees struck first in the bottom of the fourth as Cabrera doubled to left to start. Bader struck out swinging but Cabrera swiped third when Hicks went down hacking. Trevino hit a seeing eye single into left to score Cabrera to put the Yankees up for good. Gonzalez grounded out to first to end the inning but the game was already over 1-0.

                                                              Trevino drives in a run

The Sox failed to respond in the top of the fifth as Dalbec lined out to third to start. Chang grounded out to second and Wong flied out to right to end the inning. Peraza doubled to left to start the bottom of the fifth but Judge flied out to center. Rizzo grounded out to second to move Peraza to third and Torres walked. Torres stole second but Cabrera struck out swinging to end the inning.

Hernandez struck out swinging to start the top of the sixth and Pham watched strike three go by. Bogaerts flied out to right to end the inning. The Yankees scored again in the bottom of the sixth as Bader singled in the hole at short. Hicks forced Bader at second and Trevino flied out to left. Refsnyder dropped a routine pop up from Gonzalez for an error to score Hicks. Peraza took strike three to end the inning with the Yankees up 2-0. Thanks to the rain delay, that was it for Bello who technically pitched a complete game and allowed just 2 runs.

                                                       Bello deserved better

Suddenly it started raining cats and dogs to delay the game. After a while knowing the Sox were out of it and there were no remaining off-days, MLB said screw it. The game was called and the Yankees had swept the Red Sox 2-0.

                             Look close and you'll see a Yankees hat on the end of the bolt

Jackass of the Night is Rob Refsnyder. Not that the Sox were destined to win but come on.....dropping pop ups is inexcusable.

                                                           Jackass Refsnyder

The Good:

One of the rare times the losing pitcher ends up on the Good list but Brayan Bello held the Yankees to just 1 earned run in 6 innings off 6 hits and 2 walks.

The Bad:

Kike Hernandez was 0 for 3 with 2 strikeouts.

JD Martinez was 0 for 2.

Triston Casas was 0 for 2 with a strikeout.

Bobby Dalbec was 0 for 2.

Yu Chang was 0 for 2.

Connor Wong was 0 for 2 with a strikeout.

The Ugly:

Tommy Pham was 0 for 2 with a strikeout but walked.

Xander Bogaerts was 0 for 2 but walked.

Final Thoughts:

11 games to go and the season can't end fast enough. What more can be said about this season or this team that hasn't already been said? They simply couldn't beat the Yankees or anyone in the AL East for that matter. Nestor Cortes looked unhittable but Brayan Bello didn't pitch badly. The only silver lining to this miserable season is Bello started to figure it out at the end. Bogaerts, Martinez and Nathan Eovaldi are pretty much gone so the Sox need at least something to look forward to. Other than that, Refsnyder dropping that pop up is a microcosm of the season. Injuries and ineffectiveness has Refsnyder playing right field and the Sox couldn't hit anyway. Just eleven games left of this torture remain. The loss dropped the Sox to 72-80, good for last place in the AL East. The Sox look to snap their five game losing streak but unfortunately run smack into another AL East team, the Baltimore Orioles tomorrow night. Connor Seabold (0-3) gets the start for Boston against Jordan Lyles of Baltimore. The game begins at 7:10 PM at Fenway Park.