April 10, 2015

G4: Red Sox 6, Yankees 5 (19)

Red Sox - 100 002 000 000 000 101 1 - 6 18  1
Yankees - 000 002 001 000 000 101 0 - 5 14  1
It was a game the Red Sox had seemingly won three times.

They were one out away from a 3-2 victory when Chase Headley homered off Edward Mujica in the bottom of the ninth. Then Boston scored runs in the sixteenth and eighteenth innings, only to see the Yankees tie things up both times.

Finally, in the longest game (by time) in Red Sox history and the longest home game (by time) ever played by the Yankees (6:49), Boston held off the Yankees in the bottom of the nineteenth - though it took a spectacular, game-ending double play to do so - and posted a well-earned victory. The game ended at 2:13 a.m.

Xander Bogaerts (4-for-9) singled with one out in the nineteenth. He stole second base before Ryan Hanigan walked. Both runners moved up on a passed ball by backup catcher John Ryan Murphy. Mookie Betts lofted a fly ball to center and Bogaerts easily beat Jacoby Ellsbury's weak toss back to the infield.

In the home half, the Yankees tried to rally for the fourth time. Ellsbury singled, but Brett Gardner flied to left and Garrett Jones grounded into a double play. Bogaerts took the ball behind second and flipped it to Dustin Pedroia, who made an amazing pivot and fired to first in time to get Jones.

Image and video hosting by TinyPicThe game was the second-longest (by innings) between the two longtime rivals. New York won 4-3 in 20 innings in the second game of a doubleheader on August 29, 1967 at the original Yankee Stadium.

The Red Sox had been one out away from a win back in the ninth inning. Leading 3-2, Mujica easily retired the first two New York batters. But then he grooved a 2-1 fastball to Headley, who crushed it into the second deck in right field, tying the game.

Then it seemed as though David Ortiz had picked an ideal time to hit his first home run of the season. With one out in the top of the sixteenth inning, Ortiz crushed an 0-2 offering from Rogers high and deep to right-center field. But Wright, Boston's ninth pitcher of the night, allowed a home run to leadoff batter Mark Teixeira in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Wright walked Headley and with two outs, Stephen Drew singled Headley to third. Wright rebounded and got Didi Gregorius to ground out to Mike Napoli at first base.

Pablo Sandoval's (4-for-9) fourth hit of the night scored Pedroia in the eighteenth. Pedroia was hit by a pitch by Esmil Rogers to start the innings. After Ortiz flied to left, Hanley Ramirez singled to right-center, moving Pedroia to third. Sandoval then cracked a 1-1 pitch up the middle, snapping the 4-4 tie. Ramirez was thrown out trying for third, and Mike Napoli popped up.

In the bottom half, Steven Wright, in his fourth inning of work, gave up a leadoff double to Brian McCann. Pinch-runner John Ryan Murphy took over and went to third as Headley tapped back to the mound. Beltran doubled to left, a slicing drive that eluded Hanley Ramirez's glove, and Murphy scored. Wright got the next two batters on groundouts.

Both teams had numerous runners on base in the late innings. The last 1-2-3 inning of the night was the bottom of the thirteenth. New York stranded the potential winning run on third base in the sixteenth and eighteenth innings.

The game featured a delay of 16 minutes when seven banks of lights directly behind home plate went dark in the bottom of the twelfth.

Longest Red Sox/Yankees Games, By Innings
20 innings - August 29, 1967 (G2)
19 innings - April 10, 2015
18 innings - April 16, 1967
18 innings - September 5, 1927 (G1)
17 innings - August 2, 1978
Wade Miley / Nathan Eovaldi
Betts, CF
Pedroia, 2B
Ortiz, DH
Ramirez, LF
Sandoval, 3B
Napoli, 1B
Nava, RF
Bogaerts, SS
Leon, C

7 comments:

allan said...

Ellsbury, CF
Gardner, LF
Rodriguez, DH
Teixeira, 1B
McCann, C
Headley, 3B
Young, RF
Drew, SS
Petit, 2B

Michael said...

I was there. Never seen anything like this.Unbelievable game.

Dr. Jeff said...

Nice box score. The perils of DVR: My recording ran out in the 12th....glad to see they persevered after that painful bottom of the ninth.

allan said...

If the recap is disjointed, it's probably because I wrote game-winning recaps for the 16th and 18th innings before the MFY tied it up both times and I used those, with some quick edits.

Zenslinger said...

The recap's great. I gave up here on the West Coast around the 15th inning.

allan said...

I think if I really sat down and did a proper one, it would be like four times as long!

allan said...

Red Sox scored in three different extra innings.

At SoSH, I got this 1974 box score that has the Twins scoring in four extras. That's got to be a record - or very close to a record.