Yankees - 000 000 001 000 000 3 - 4 9 0
Red Sox - 001 000 000 000 000 0 - 1 8 2
As this game neared the the six-hour mark, the Yankees began the top of the sixteenth with four straight hits off Doug Fister, and beat the Red Sox 4-1.
Jacoby Ellsbury doubled to the wall in left to begin the inning. Then Fister gave up singles to Chase Headley, Didi Gregorius, and Austin Romine. The latter two hits brought in runs and gave New York a 3-1 lead. After a bunt and an intentional walk, Gary Sanchez's sacrifice fly to left scored the final run.
In the bottom half, the Red Sox went quietly as Ben Heller got Dustin Pedroia on a grounder to second, Xander Bogaerts on a fly ball to right, and Mitch Moreland on a fly ball to center.
The afternoon began in the sunshine with an excellent pitchers' duel between Chris Sale (7.2-3-0-2-13, 118) and Luis Severino (7-4-1-2-6, 114). Boston grabbed a lead in the third when Severino walked Mookie Betts and Pedroia. Bogaerts's infield single loaded the bases before Moreland lifted a sac fly to center.
Sale was awesome as usual. Anytime he got into even the slightest bit of trouble, he calmly and quickly worked out of it. He walked Brett Gardner to start the game, then got the next three batters: K, K, 4-3. It was the same situation in the second. After a leadoff double by Starlin Castro, Sale got two strikeouts and a groundout.
After Sanchez double with two down in the third, Sale fanned Aaron Judge (who finished the day 0-for-6). Sale walked Castro to start the top of the seventh. (Actually, he threw strike 3 to Castro, but home plate umpire Gary Cederstrom failed to do his job.) A determined Sale got the next three Yankees: K, F9, K.
Sale gave up a one-out single to Gardner in the eighth and was pulled after striking out Sanchez. Craig Kimbrel came in for a four-out save. He battled Judge for ten pitches before Judge flied to right.
Boston did very little against Severino after the third inning. Andrew Benintendi singled to start the fourth, but Jackie Bradley lined into a double play. That began a string of 11 consecutive Boston batters retired by Severino.
The Red Sox's next runner was in the eighth, when Tzu-Wei Lin singled off Tyler Clippard. Betts popped to short, Lin was caught stealing, and Pedroia lined to second.
Matt Holliday led off the ninth by homering off Kimbrel and tying the game at 1-1. Castro reached on Bogaerts's throwing error. Ellsbury pinch-ran and stole second. Kimbrel buckled down and struck out Headley, Didi Gregorius, and Ji-Man Choi.
Dellin Betances retired the Red Sox in order in the bottom of the ninth, but Boston threatened in the tenth. Benintendi and Bradley both singled off Chase Shreve. New York manager Joe Girardi brought in Adam Warren and he restored order for the Yankees: Chris Young struck out and Lin and Betts both flied to right.
There was some crazy shit in the top of the eleventh. Heath Hembree walked Holliday. Ellsbury grounded the ball to Moreland at first. Moreland threw to Bogaerts at second base to force Holliday. However, when Holliday saw the play in front of him, he stopped and instead of peeling off towards the outfield like a lot of runners do when they are forced at second by more than 30 feet, he
ran back to first and actually slid into the bag. That prevented Moreland from getting back into position to catch Bogaerts's return throw. Ellsbury was running down the line and arrived at the bag at about the same time as the ball, which caromed into foul territory down the right field line. Seeing that, Holliday stood up and started running towards second base, even though he was already out as a baserunner.
John Farrell argued that Holliday interfered with Moreland and a double play should be called. The four umpires gathered and talked it over. They decided to put on the headphones and listen to whoever in "New York". The verdict? Holliday was out at second and Ellsbury was safe at first. Farrell announced that he was playing the rest of the game under protest. Then the umpires went back to the headphones
for a second time! In the end, the original (and wrong) decision stood and the game continued. Hembree quickly got two more outs, so the blown call did not hurt the Red Sox in that inning. (The delay lasted about five minutes.)
Pedroia greeted Jonathan Holder with a first-pitch single in the home half of the eleventh and then went to second on a wild pitch. But Boston could not advance Pedroia even one base. Bogaerts flied to center (Ellsbury ran in and made a sliding catch), Moreland struck out, and Hanley Ramirez flied to right.
In the top of the twelfth, Blaine Boyer walked Romine on four pitches. Ronald Torreyes tried to bunt three times: two foul balls, then a hard bunt towards third on a high fastball. Lin fielded the ball and made a perfect throw to second. Torreyes, a bit off-balance after bunting, was slow running out of the box and Boston easily turned a double play.
Brandon Workman walked Judge with one out in the thirteenth. With two outs and Ellsbury at the plate, Judge was thrown out by Christian Vazquez trying to steal second. Judge can actually run a bit, but Vazquez made a perfect throw.
The game moved into the fourteenth inning and Fernando Abad was on the hill. (Which was somewhat scary.) He walked Ellsbury and Headley chopped a single into left. After Gregorius lined to second, with Pedroia making a leaping catch, Doug Fister replaced Abad. Romine lined to right and Fister fanned Torreyes.
Aroldis Chapman walked Bogaerts on four pitches in the bottom of the fourteenth and, after getting ahead of Moreland 0-2, threw three straight balls. It looked like we might be enjoying a repeat of last night's entertainment, but Moreland flied to center. Ramirez popped the first pitch to short right. Romine went out after it with his back to the infield, and the ball dropped. Unfortunately, he was able to quickly grab it and throw to second to force Bogaerts. Benintendi then also hit into a first-pitch fielder's choice, though his was more traditional - right at the shortstop.
Fister pitched the fifteenth and walked Judge with two outs. Holliday then hit a drive to deep left that NESN sort of truped everyone on, but Benintendi caught at the base of the wall.
In the bottom of the fifteenth, Bradley lined Heller's 1-1 pitch in the air down the left field line. It hit maybe five feet on the foul side of the pole. (For some reason, the umpires reviewed the play, which took about 10 seconds.)
In the entire history of Red Sox/Yankees games, this was only the ninth game to last as long as 16 innings. And after 16 innings (lasting 5:50) today, the teams will play a day-night doubleheader on Sunday.
Luis Severino / Chris Sale
Betts, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Moreland, 1B
Ramirez, DH
Benintendi, LF
Bradley, CF
Leon, C
Lin, 3B
Chris Sale has pitched into the seventh inning in seven of his eight starts at Fenway Park.
Interesting factoid from
Ryan Spaeder: "Chris Sale has a career 2.15 ERA in 34 career no-decision starts. Lowest in baseball history."
ESPN's Anthony Gulizia
looks at some of the Red Sox's big acquisitions over the last 15 years, including Sale:
Sale, acquired by the Red Sox in December from the Chicago White Sox, is flirting with [Pedro] Martinez-like expectations. Coming out of the All-Star break, Sale is 11-4 with a 2.75 ERA and a league-leading 178 strikeouts. In 12 of his 18 starts, he's struck out more than 10 opponents, including doing so in eight consecutive starts earlier this season.
After Sale struck out 11 Baltimore Orioles batters on May 2, then his fifth-consecutive start with double-digit strikeouts, Martinez heaped praise on Boston's new ace in 53 characters.
"Chris Sale is already surpassing everything I've done," Martinez tweeted.
Okay. Pedro got a little carried away. (Sale had made a mere six starts with Boston when Pedro sent that tweet. Martinez started 212 games (including the postseason) for the Red Sox.)
Sale is third in the AL in ERA+, at 168. In 2014, Sale had a career-best ERA+ of 173. Pedro's
average ERA+ for his entire Red Sox career was
190. He had highs of
291 (2000), 243 (1999), 211 (2003), and 202 (2002).
So, I'll say this to Pedro Martinez: I agree that Sale has had a tremendous year and is an absolute joy to watch work, but he is no you.
AL East
Red Sox 51 39 ---
Rays 48 43 3.5
Yankees 45 42 4.5
Blue Jays 42 47 8.5
Orioles 42 47 8.5
