G58: Yankees 5, Red Sox 3

Red Sox - 010 200 000 - 3 11  0
Yankees - 030 020 00x - 5 11  0

Gary Sánchez's league-leading eighteenth home run of the year, a two-run job in the fifth off Rick Porcello (4.2-9-5-1-5, 94), snapped a 3-3 tie and propelled the Yankees to a 5-3 win on Saturday night.

The Red Sox dropped to 29-29 and are a season-worst 9.5 games out of first place. Actually, if you were watching the Fox broadcast immediately after the final out, you could see that Boston was reportedly 9⅔ games out - for undoubtedly, the first time in franchise history.

(How an error like this happens is beyond me. You either have the "½" or you do not. Where in the hell would a "⅔" come from? ... I'm not sure NESN has ever screwed up the standings this badly. Everything else, sure, but not the standings!)

So the Red Sox led 1-0 in this game, for a few minutes anyway. Sandy León (3-for-3) singled in Xander Bogaerts (3-for-4) who began the second inning with a single and moved up a base on Brock Holt's single. In the bottom half, the Yankees got five singles off Porcello, with Gio Urshela tying the score at 1-1 and D.J. LeMahieu putting New York up 3-1.

Bogaerts led off the fourth with a dong. Holt singled and Michael Chavis walked. After Jackie Bradley fanned, León came through again, lining a hit to left-center - and we were again tied.

From the second into the fifth inning, Porcello had retired nine straight batters. Luke Voit lined a single to center with one out and Gary Sánchez homered with two down. Porcello then gave up a walk and another single before being pulled. Marcus Walden hit Clint Frazier, loading the bases, but Rafael Devers made a nice grab of Urshela's grounder along the third base line and made a strong throw for the third out.

In the top of the sixth, León and Mookie Betts both singled with one out, but Andrew Benintendi flied to center and J.D. Martinez struck out. The Red Sox went in order in the seventh. Eduardo Núñez drew a one-out walk in the eighth, but pinch-hitter Christian Vázquez ground into a double play.

Aroldis Chapman started the top of the ninth off with a called strike to Betts. Then Chapman threw six straight balls, four to put Betts at first and two to Benintendi, who singled on a 2-1 pitch. Things looked good ... potential tying runs on base, no outs, middle of the order coming up against a reliever who inspires no fear or dread whatsoever.

But Martinez and Devers let Chapman, who often has issues throwing strikes to the Red Sox and may have been experiencing that problem today, off the hook. JDM took a ball before grounding into a 6-4-3 double play. (He is now 0-for-his-last-13 with RATS.)  Devers swung at the first pitch and grounded out 3-1.

Rick Porcello / Domingo Germán

Betts, RF
Benintendi, LF
Martinez, DH
Devers, 3B
Bogaerts, SS
Holt, 2B
Chavis, 1B
Bradley, CF
León, C

Steve Pearce is now on the injured list with a low back strain and Sam Travis has been recalled.

The Red Sox are 8.5 games back in the AL East. They have not overcome a deficit that big to win the division since 1988. ... The Red Sox (29-28) have not been at .500 (or worse) in June since 2015.

The Yankees finished May with a 20-7 record, while the Red Sox went 16-11. The Post says the MFY are displaying "all the signs of a special team", but based on runs scored and runs allowed in May, the Red Sox had a better month.

Not by much, admittedly, but Boston's expected winning percentage was .026 better. The Red Sox scored 26 more runs than the Yankees wile allowing only nine more.

May 2019

          W   L   PCT    RS   RA  EXP PCT   EXP W-L
Yankees  20   7  .741   144  102    .653   17.6-9.4
Rays     16  11  .593   123   86    .658   17.8-9.2
Red Sox  16  11  .593   170  113    .679   18.3-8.7

Despite having the best May record in MLB, the Yankees were actually sixth in the AL in expected winning percentage (.653), behind the Rays (.658), Athletics (.658), Red Sox (.679), Astros (.690), and Twins (.749). The Twins allowed three more runs than the Yankees in May (105-102), but scored 47 more (191-144).

No team ever won a division title based on expected winning percentage, but perhaps New York had simply a very good month rather than a "special" one.

Looking at the actual numbers, Boston batted .279 in May, second in the AL, only to the Twins (.286). The Yankees were sixth (.257). The Red Sox led the AL with a .360 on-base percentage; the Yankees were sixth (.328). In slugging percentage, Boston was third (.491), while the Yankees were fifth (.455). The Red Sox finished second in OPS (.851) and the Yankees finished sixth (.783).

The Red Sox also hit more doubles (51) than the Yankees (35, the fewest of any AL team) and had more total bases (481-410). The Yankees may be feared as a home-run hitting machine, but Boston out-donged them last month, 51-45.

The Yankees had a better May ERA (3.45 to 3.82) and they walked two fewer batters (74-76), but the Red Sox had 11 more strikeouts (270-259) and allowed fewer home runs (29, the second-fewest in the AL, versus 39).

The Red Sox's pitching staff also had a lower opponents batting average (.215 to .229), lower opponents on-base percentage (.290 to .294), and lower opponents slugging percentage (.383 to .405).