G111: Yankees 4, Red Sox 2

Red Sox - 200 000 000 - 2  3  0
Yankees - 400 000 00x - 4  5  0

Eduardo Rodriguez walked out to the mound in the bottom of the first inning with a 2-0 lead. The lefty apparently did not like how that felt because he shed himself of the lead in very short order. He gave up a single and then issued two walks. After a popup, Rodriguez was tagged for the first grand slam of his five-year career, to Gleyber Torres.

On the other hand, James Paxton (6-2-2-3-6, 100) treated his two-run lead with respect, striking out the side in the top of the second.

Over the final eight innings, the Red Sox and Yankees each managed only two hits. Neither team scored another run. The Red Sox have lost their last five games and are a season-worst 11.5 games out of first.

The New York Post was surprised.

Rodriguez (6.2-5-4-6-8, 113) issued at least one walk in each of the first four innings and five of the first six. The Yankees had their leadoff batter on base in each of the first four innings. Rodriguez's six walks are the second-highest total of his career. He walked seven in only 3.2 innings last September 20, against the Yankees.

In the first, after Mookie Betts and Rafael Devers both struck out swinging, Xander Bogaerts worked a walk and J.D. Martinez hit an 0-1 pitch out to left. It was his 24th home run of the year.

In the home half, D.J. LeMahieu singled to left and Aaron Judge and Edwin Encarnación both walked. Ball 4 to Encarnación was the only pitch plate umpire Chad Farchild might have miscalled (but EdRo might have caught a break on a strike call to LeMahieu earlier) (this is all according to Gameday). (Not completely accurate; see comments.). Aaron Hicks fouled to first and Torres connected with Rodriguez's first offering for his 21st homer of the year and second slam of his brief career.

After JDM's dong, Paxton retired eight in a row before walking Martinez with one out in the fourth. Andrew Benintendi followed with a single, but the Red Sox could do nothing productive. Sam Travis flied to left and Michael Chavis grounded out to second.

Jackie Bradley walked with one out in the fifth and Christian Vázquez singled with two down in the seventh. That was Boston's third and last hit, and final base runner.

AL East: Rays off. ... MFY –, TBR 7.5, BOS 11.5.

Eduardo Rodriguez / James Paxton

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

Heath Hembree is on the 10-day IL with right lateral elbow inflammation. Josh Smith will take his place in the pen. ... David Price was placed on the paternity leave list; he can be away for one, two, or three days, so he might still pitch on Sunday. Marco Hernandez takes his spot on the roster.

For the Yankees: Brett Gardner is back from the IL and pitcher Stephen Tarpley was called up. J.A. Happ is away on paternity leave and Tyler Wade was sent down to the minors.

Alex Cora, after last night's loss:

We need to get better and it sounds like I say the same thing for 100 days. ... [I]f we're going to be involved in whatever talk for the playoffs, it better start tomorrow. ... Went to Tampa and played great and won the first three games against the Yankees. So then we take three steps back. That can't happen. ... We score a few, they came back, got ahead, we score, they came back. ... We've got to be better.

Xander Bogaerts:

We're not in April or May. You can lose a couple and, "Aw, we're going to go on a nice run later on." Later on is almost here. The more games we keep losing, the other teams keep winning, I don't think that's a good way to do it.

The Post's Larry Brooks seems more worried than he should be, considering the circumstances (the Red Sox are 10.5 GB in the East and 3.5 GB of the second wild-card spot).

It all changed, didn't it, the moment Dave Roberts stole second base in the ninth inning of Game 4 in 2004?

Since then, the Red Sox have won four World Series to the Yankees' one. Since then, the Red Sox have won 48 playoff games to the Yankees' 32 ... The divide has grown deeper over the last six seasons, during which Boston has a 2-0 edge in World Series titles and a 23-7 edge in playoff victories, not counting wild-card games. ...

[I]t would appear incumbent on the Yanks not to allow the Sox to win this series ...

Houston stacks up as the team to beat in the AL ... [but] the team for the Yankees to avoid in October is Boston. They can get a head start on that right now.

A scout suspects the Red Sox routed the Yankees last weekend because they knew what pitches were coming. George A. King III of the Post thinks there may be something to this theory "based on the Red Sox's rearranging the furniture in New England's living room and swinging wet newspapers at Yankee Stadium".

He offers a mere six games as evidence. Last weekend, "the Red Sox crushed Yankee pitching for 44 runs and 62 hits and took three of four", while in two mid-April games at Yankee Stadium III, they had only 11 hits and three runs, and lost both games. (I find this "proof" decidedly underwhelming.)

King does not mention the possibility that the Yankees' starters were tipping their pitches, so is he implying the Red Sox are cheating at home in a way they cannot on the road? Of course, that doesn't explain why the MFY pitchers were equally as shitty when facing the Twins before they came to Fenway last weekend.

The Daily News' Kristie Ackert writes that while the Yankees are not worried about Aaron Judge's current slump (2-for-27, 11 strikeouts), "this is a tough time for Judge to go into a second-half slide".

Judge has only two full major league seasons on his resume, but according to the article's headline, he already has established a tradition of "an annual hot half". Ackert says Judge's "hot half" needs to start now. But the evidence at the bottom of her article shows that in both 2017 and 2018, it was the first half in which Judge excelled. So wouldn't "an annual hot first half" be a more accurate description? In which case - it now being the second half - Lurch is shit out of luck.

Judge is 6-for-33 (.182) against Boston this year, with two extra-base hits, and has hit .222 against the Red Sox in his career. ... They call him the Breeze. ... lol.

AL East: Rays off. ... MFY –, TBR 7.0, BOS 10.5.