G23: Red Sox 4, Yankees 2

Yankees - 010 010 000 - 2  6  1
Red Sox - 000 000 22x - 4  8  0

After Jackie Bradley's clutch two-run double off the Wall tied the game in the seventh, David Ortiz blasted an opposite field two-run homer into the Monster Seats to give the Red Sox a 4-2 victory over the last-place Yankees.

The Boston bats were listless against Masahiro Tanaka (6.2-6-2-0-5, 99), managing only three singles through six innings. Indeed, only one Red Sox runner had advanced past first base, and the Yankees led 2-0. But with one out in the bottom of the seventh, Travis Shaw chopped a single down the left field line and Brock Holt lined a single past the dive of third baseman Chase Headley. Potential tying runs on base, one out. Ryan Hanigan went down on strikes for the third straight time, leaving things in the hands of Bradley. JBJ wasted no time, smacking the first pitch (an outside fastball) off the left field wall. Shaw scored easily and Holt was rounding third by the time Brett Gardner threw the ball back to the infield. Holt scored the tying run without a play.

That was the end of Tanaka's night and manager Joe Girardi brought in Dellin Betances (23 strikeouts in 10 innings of work this season). Mookie Betts flied out to end the inning and Girardi stayed with Betances for the eighth. After Dustin Pedroia grounded to second, Xander Bogaerts singled up the middle. Then it was up to Big Papi (0-for-7, 4 K against Betances). He launched an outside curveball over the Wall to give Boston a 4-2 lead. Craig Kimbrel had an easy inning in the ninth. Boston pitchers retired the last 13 Yankee hitters.

Henry Owens (6-6-2-3-3, 92) was wild at times, but he held the Yankees in check, and was helped out by four double plays. He began the night by walking Jacoby Ellsbury (leading off with a .268 OBP?!) and allowing a hit to Gardner. Carlos Beltran grounded into a double play and Mark Teixeira flied to left.

In the second, Alex Rodriguez crushed a homer into one of the light towers over the Monster Seats. One out later, Starlin Castro hit a sinking liner to center. The ball skipped past Bradley and rolled and rolled and rolled. Because Castro was slow out of the box, thinking the ball would be caught, he had to stop at third with a triple. If he had hustled, he might have had an ITPHR. Headley flied to left and Brock Holt gunned down Castro at the plate by 10-15 feet to end the inning.

After Owens walked Ellsbury with one out in the third, he got out of the inning with a double play of a strikeout of Gardner and caught stealing of Ellsbury. Castro's leadoff single in the fifth was wiped out by a fourth double play. Owens then drilled Didi Gregorius in the back to keep the inning alive. Ellsbury and Gardner followed with singles and New York led 2-0.

However, Gardner would be the last Yankee to reach base. Beltran popped out to end the fifth and the Yankees went in order in the next four innings, hitting only three balls out of the infield: Owens in the sixth, Matt Barnes in the seventh, Koji Uehara in the eighth, and Kimbrel in the ninth.

The Yankees scored three runs or fewer for the 16th time in 21 games; they are 3-13 in those games. It was also the 11th time the Yankees scored two runs or fewer, and they are 0-11 in those games.

The Orioles beat the White Sox, so Boston (13-10) stayed 1.5 GB. New York fell to 8-13, 5.5 GB.

Masahiro Tanaka / Henry Owens

Betts, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Ortiz, DH
Ramirez, 1B
Shaw, 3B
Holt, LF
Hanigan, C
Bradley, CF

Weekend Match-ups

Saturday, 7 PM: Michael Pineda / Rick Porcello
Sunday, 8 PM: Nathan Eovaldi / David Price

             W   L   PCT   GB
Orioles     13   8  .619  ---
Red Sox     12  10  .545  1.5
Rays        10  11  .476  3.0
Blue Jays   10  13  .435  4.0
Yankees      8  12  .400  4.5

AL Team Batting Leaders

Runs Scored
#1 Red Sox, 114
#14, Yankees, 72

Doubles
#1, Red Sox, 63
#15, Yankees, 21

Batting Average
#1, Red Sox, .278
#11, Yankees, .237

On-Base Percentage
#1, Red Sox, .341
#10, Yankees, .309

Slugging Percentage
#2, Red Sox, .443
#14, Yankees, .369

AL Team Pitching Leaders

ERA
#13, Yankees, 4.42
#14, Red Sox, 4.43

WHIP
#6, Yankees, 1.249
#13, Red Sox 1.367

Joel Sherman, Post, April 28:

The biggest concern about the Yankees rotation going into the season was all the physical red flags that existed up and down the group.

So what is scary for the organization now is that the Yankees starters have been mostly awful — and wholly healthy. This is not about injury. Just incompetence.

Pick your early-season poison why the Yankees have struggled: poor starting pitching, terrible hitting. ...

[T]hrough 19 unappetizing games, the Yankees rotation ERA is 5.18. Only the team that beat them in last year's wild-card game, the Astros (5.38), had a worse ERA in the AL. ...

The Yankees have just eight quality starts in 19 games. and one reason is an inability to navigate a lineup capably three times. The third time through a lineup, the Yankees rotation is yielding a major league-worst .963 OPS.

And yet, here is the Daily News: "Masahiro Tanaka Looking Like Ace For Yankees".

We'll see about that tonight.