September 17, 2016

G148: Red Sox 6, Yankees 5

Yankees - 003 200 000 - 5  9  0
Red Sox - 002 020 20x - 6 10  0
Xander Bogaerts (3-for-4) drove in three runs with two doubles and a home run and scored three runs. It was Mookie Betts who drove in Bogaerts as the tying run in the seventh inning with one of his two hits. Then Betts scored the go-ahead run three batters later on a wild pitch by Yankees reliever Adam Warren.

The Red Sox's third straight win over the Yankees dropped the New Yorkers a whopping seven games out of first place, and further darkened their barely-illuminated postseason hopes.

Hanley Ramirez also had three hits and Jackie Bradley reached base three times, on a single and two walks.

David Price (6-9-5-0-7, 113) had two rough innings in which he put his teammates in 3-0 and 5-2 holes. Austin Romine singled to start the Yankees' third and scored one out later on Brett Gardner's triple. Price retired Jacoby Ellsbury for the second out and had a 2-2 count on Gary Sanchez before the rookie DH homered to deep left.

Boston immediately closed the gap to 3-2 on doubles by Andrew Benintendi and Bogaerts, a passed ball and a run-scoring groundout from David Ortiz. But New York extended their lead in their next at-bat. One-out singles by Didi Gregorius and Chase Headley set the table for Romine, who doubled off the Wall to make it 5-2.

Jackie Bradley walked to start the home half of the fifth. Benintendi and Dustin Pedroia both popped up, but Bogaerts turned on an inside pitch and drove it over the Wall for a two-run homer. That ended Bryan Mitchell's afternoon (4.1-5-4-1-3, 74).

In the sixth, Hanley Ramirez doubled off Luis Severino. With one out, Sandy Leon bunted Ramirez to third. Severino then walked Bradley and Benintendi on full counts to load the bases. Severino also had a full count on Pedroia, but managed to strike him out looking. Pedroia barked at the call, but it was a correct one.

Bogaerts started the seventh by lifting a fly ball out near the end of the bullpens by the triangle. Ellsbury ran over and attempted a sliding catch, but he missed the ball and banged into the padded sidewall, and Bogaerts had a double. Lefty Tommy Layne came in and got Ortiz to fly to center; Bogaerts advanced to third.

Joe Girardi called on Warren and also brought in his infield. Betts promptly chopped a 1-1 pitch that bounced high over Gregorius's head at shortstop and went into left field for a game-tying single. Ramirez followed with a hot shot past Headley's dive at third for another single. Travis Shaw grounded out to first, but also moved the runners to second and third, with two outs. Then Romine could not handle Warren's 1-1 pitch to Sandy Leon. The ball bounced in front of the plate and caromed up the first base line in foul territory. Betts scored easily - giving Boston a 6-5 lead - and Ramirez raced to third and rounded the bag. When Romine grabbed the baseball and turned his back on the plate, thinking the play was over, Ramirez took off for home. Romine finally got wind of what was happening and he sprinted to the plate. It was close, but Ramirez was tagged out.

Matt Barnes, who had come in to strike out Sanchez to end the seventh, began the eighth by getting two groundouts. Then he walked Gregorius and John Farrell called on Craig Kimbrel for a four-out save. Kimbrel struck out Headley to end the eighth and then he struck out the side - Romine, Mason Williams, and Gardner - in the ninth. No fuss, no muss.
Bryan Mitchell / David Price
Pedroia, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Ortiz, DH
Betts, RF
Ramirez, 1B
Shaw, 3B
Leon, C
Bradley, CF
Benintendi, LF
Hanley Ramirez: "Now is the time for everybody to get in the boat."

Price has a 2.44 ERA over his last 10 starts and 2.16 over his last seven. Price trails only Chris Sale for the most starts of at least eight innings this season (Sale 13, Price 10). Price's total is the most by a Red Sox pitcher since Pedro Martinez had 11 in 2002.

Boston's magic number for winning the AL East is 14 with 15 games to play. ... In the East: Rays/Orioles and Blue Jays/Angels.
BOS --- 
BAL 2.0
TOR 2.0
MFY 6.0

2 comments:

allan said...

Elias: Craig Kimbrel closed out his 27th save of the season by striking out all four batters he faced in the Red Sox' 6-5 victory over the Yankees. Saturday marked the first time in Kimbrel's major-league career that he recorded a save of four or more outs by striking out every batter he faced. Since 1969, when saves became an official statistic, only one other pitcher besides Kimbrel has a save of that kind against the Yankees. On Sept. 24, 2005, Miguel Batista closed out a win for the Blue Jays by striking out all four Yankees he faced.

allan said...

Elias: Xander Bogaerts is the first player in Red Sox history to homer 20 times in a season as a shortstop before his 24th birthday.