The New York Yankees have to win out and have Toronto lose out or they will be fighting for the Wild Card.
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The Boston Red Sox (77-80) faced the New York Yankees (86-71) for the second time on their last series of the season.
The once-moribund Red Sox scored six times against Michael Pineda as another less-than-capacity crowd at Yankee Stadium made its displeasure known.
With his father and brother among dozens of supporters in the stands, Rick Porcello certainly didn’t want to get knocked out in the first inning. Just like that, it was 6-0 Red Sox, and I figured we were in for a long night.
Brock Holt continued the hit parade with a hustle double to center, plating Ortiz and moving Shaw to third base. The Yankees also have been using veteran Carlos Beltran almost every day since the All-Star Game.
The Red Sox have a 15-66 record when opponents outhit them.
Aided by catcher Blake Swihart’s first career multi-homer game, Porcello pitched eight innings and the Red Sox extended their winning streak to a season-high five games and prevented the Yankees from inching closer to a clinching a playoff spot with a 10-4 victory Tuesday night.
New York’s playoff push was delayed once again by its longtime rival.
Rick Porcello (9-14) recovered neatly from a rocky first inning, Mookie Betts added a solo home run and the Red Sox won their season-best fifth straight game to pass the Orioles for third place. “He told me to make a few adjustments, get the ball down and stop making mistakes”, Porcello said with a smile.
New York is running second in the division and was spared the possibility of the Blue Jays clinching the crown Tuesday when they were rained out in Baltimore. Having been punished mostly for his off-speed pitches, Pineda tried to put Swihart away with heat low and inside, but Swihart cleaned it out, and took advantage of New York’s right field with a three-run shot into the first row.
LF Hanley Ramirez (right shoulder inflammation) was not with the Red Sox Monday and will not be with them again Tuesday since he was given permission to start rehabbing in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Tuesday with his personal trainer. “There is no question about it. The senior guys in this room, we have to make sure that we come out and stay relaxed and play good Yankee baseball”. “That’s a different team than we’d seen all spring and summer”, Rodriguez said. A ground out by Ellsbury moved Gregorius to third, but Porcello closed the door by dropping in a nasty curveball for strike three on Gardner.
“I just stunk today”, said Rodriguez, who went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
In the seventh inning, Blake Swihart singled and scored when Bradley lined an opposite-field home run to left field, just over the fence. Pineda bent over at the waist and shook his head, moments before the Yankees began to get a reliever loose in the bullpen.
The Yankees made it interesting, scoring four times in the bottom of the first. After a walk to Pedroia, Mitchell rebounded getting Bogaerts to hit into a 4-6-3 inning-ending double play. “So that mound visit kind of locked me back in”. “That definitely resonated with me”.
David Ortiz ripped a ball to the top of the right field wall, barely missing a home run. All they would have to do for that to happen is do what they have done in their past five games in their last five, win.
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He has stunk for awhile now, which is understandable when you remember his two hip surgeries, his 40th birthday and the fact he has already done so much with his 32 homers and 85 RBIs this year.
