Yankees - 000 010 000 - 1 3 0 Red Sox - 000 420 00x - 6 6 0Mitch Moreland's three-run homer, one of his three hits on Friday night, led the Red Sox to an easy win over the Yankees on Friday night. Moreland collected as many hits in four trips to the plate as the entire Yankees team managed in 32 plate appearances.
Rafael Devers and Xander Bogaerts each hit their 49th double of the season. Bogaerts drove in two runs while Devers also walked twice and scored twice.
The Red Sox used seven pitchers. Jhoulys Chacín (2-0-0-0-4, 35) started and turned in two perfect innings. Six of the first eight Yankees went down on strikes. Andrew Cashner allowed the only run, a solo homer in the fifth. It's the tenth game this year in which Red Sox pitchers allowed three or fewer hits. Boston has given only five hits in their last two games.
Devers led off the fourth with a double and found himself on third with two outs. Andrew Benintendi walked before Brock Holt singled, scoring Devers. Moreland's dong to right (#15) made it 4-0.
In the fifth, Mookie Betts walked with one out. Nestor Cortes relieved Domingo Germán (4.1-3-5-4-5, 92) and walked Devers before giving up Bogaerts's two-run two-bagger. After intentionally walking J.D. Martinez, Cortes got out of the inning with a force play and a strikeout.
The top of the seventh ended with Gary Sanchez being thrown out at the plate by Jackie Bradley. Darwizon Hernandez issued a harmless two-out walk in the eighth and Bobby Poyner retired the side in order in the ninth, getting Didi Gregorius to foul out to Christian Vázquez before striking out Sanchez (swinging) and Edwin Encarnación (looking).
AL Wild Card: TBR/OAK –, CLE 0.5, BOS 6.0.
Betts, RFThis weekend's four-game series against the Yankees will be fairly anti-climatic, though the Red Sox basically need to win every single game until the end of the season to have any hope of seeing the postseason.
Devers, 3B
Bogaerts, SS
Martinez, DH
Benintendi, LF
Holt, 2B
Moreland, 1B
Vázquez, C
Bradley, CF
New York leads the AL East by 9.5 games over the Rays, and with the Red Sox a distant 16.5 games out of first, Boston will not win the division for the first time since 2015. This season will be the first since 2011 (Terry Francona's last season as manager) that Boston will not finish first or last/fifth in the AL East.
Jhoulys Chacín, released by the Brewers on August 26 and signed to a minor league contract by the Red Sox five days later, will appear in his first game since July 24. He allowed 11 runs in his final two starts for Milwaukee (5.1 innings) and has a season ERA of 5.79.
The Red Sox have won 12 of their last 18 games and in that time (since August 13), they have the AL's lowest ERA (3.50). The bullpen has the AL's lowest ERA since July 24 (3.38). ... Overall, the Red Sox bullpen leads the majors with 10.58 K/9.
With his 40th double of the year last night, Mookie Betts is only the third Red Sox player with 40 doubles in five consecutive seasons, joining Wade Boggs (8) and David Ortiz (5).
Betts leads MLB with 126 runs scored and is on pace to score 145 runs. Only one Red Sox player has ever scored 140+ runs in a season and he (Ted Williams) did it three times. Betts is also one of only four Red Sox to score 120+ runs in as many as three seasons, joining Williams (8), Dom DiMaggio (3), and Jimmie Foxx (3).
J.D. Martinez has six home runs in 15 games this year against the Yankees. The only Red Sox players to hit seven or more dongs against the MFY in a season are Foxx (8 in 1936), Jackie Jensen (7 in 1955), Mike Napoli (7 in 2013), and Manny Ramirez (7 in 2004, 7 in 2006).
Rafael Devers needs one more home run to become the 10th player in baseball history with 30+ HR, 100+ RBI, and 100+ runs in a season before turning 23 years old. Devers leads MLB with 81 extra-base hits; that is the second-most ever by a Red Sox player in a season prior to turning 23 (Ted Williams, 86 in 1939). Devers also leads the majors with 320 total bases and is tied (with Xander Bogaerts) for the lead in doubles (48).
J.D. Martinez has 34 home runs, Xander Bogaerts has 31, and Devers has 29. Boston has had three players with 30+ homers in a season only two times: 1977 (Jim Rice 39, George Scott 33, Butch Hobson 30) and 2016 (David Ortiz 38, Mookie Betts 31, Hanley Ramirez 30).
As mentioned, Bogaerts and Devers each have 48 doubles. The Red Sox have never had two players with 50+ doubles in the same season. The only teams in the last 72 years (since 1947) are the 1996 Mariners and the 2000 Rockies. No team has ever had two players with 30+ HR and 50+ doubles in a season. Both Bogaerts and Devers need two more doubles and Devers needs one more home run.
Bogaerts has 998 career hits. Two more hits will make him the 32nd player to have 1,000 hits in a Red Sox uniform, but only the third before turning 27 (Tris Speaker and Bobby Doerr are the others). With 31 homers and 48 doubles, Bogaerts is trying to become only the second shortstop in history with a 30/50 season (Alex Rodriguez had 36/54 in 1996).
And: Joel Sherman of the Post thinks the Yankees should "tank this rivalry series" because:
[T]he Yankees would absolutely maul the Red Sox in a five-game series with Games 1, 2 and 5 at Yankee Stadium.Sherman adds that the Red Sox "look more haggard than Nick Nolte at the end of "48 Hrs".
Excellent work, Joel! Citing a 37-year-old movie is perfectly in line with the pop culture references used by middle-aged white sportswriters who stopped paying attention to pop culture shortly after graduating high school (or college (maybe)). (Nolte is still working, but he's 78 years old.)
AL Wild Card: TBR/OAK –, CLE 1.0, BOS 6.5.
2 comments:
The magic number to eliminate the Red Sox from being the division winners is six entering this series. I, for one, am hoping for at least a split so that New York won't do it at Fenway Park.
A more updated cultural reference and analogy?
The Red Sox look more haggard, and might be more dangerous, than Walter White on his last day of chemo. The team has been Breaking Bad all season.
Post a Comment