When Brian Cashman pulled the trigger, dealing away his closer (Chapman) and setup man (Miller) it left the bullpen viciously vulnerable to late innings disasters, as witnessed in the Yankees’ past two losses, first to the Dodgers, and last night to the Red Sox. Boston looks to ride the momentum of just its third walk-off win of the season as it plays the second contest of a four-game series versus visiting NY on Friday.Veteran David Ortiz launched a solo shot for his 537th career homer, passing Yankees icon Mickey Mantle for 17th place on the all-time list.
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Put another way: the Red Sox had lost twice as many games on errors by the first baseman or at first base alone than they won on walkoffs.
In Boston, Hanley Ramirez hit a three-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning to finish off a five-run rally as Boston came back to beat NY 7-5 and open a two-game lead in the AL East.
David Ortiz had a pair of hits, including a double that was the 1,187th extra-base hit of his career. That moved him out of a tie with Frank Robinson and into 11th on baseball’s all-time list; Lou Gehrig is next with 1,190.
Indeed. Ramirez swatted a 99 miles per hour offering down the middle for a three-run, walk-off homer to center field on a crisp 63-degree evening at Fenway Park.
Red Sox playoff series in the Bronx (which could be a possibility should the Yankees turn things around), the Yankees will hold a ceremony for Ortiz to commemorate his final season.
Betances admitted that he’d spent a restless Thursday night replaying the Red Sox’s winning rally against him, which included RBI singles by David Ortiz and Mookie Betts with two out. “(Ramirez) has been on a good run for almost a month now”.
At Baltimore, Evan Longoria homered and drove in five runs, and last-place Tampa Bay again played the spoiler’s role in a victory over Baltimore.
“Obviously, you know when you play at this level, you can’t miss your spots because when you do, they usually hit them out”, Cessa said after the game.
“There’s no other choice, we’ve got to bounce back”, said Girardi.
Kluber pitched seven innings, giving up four runs on five hits with seven strikeouts and three walks. And the Sox plated five more runs in the ninth, capped by Hanley Ramirez’s walk-off three-run homer.
Ortiz is a career.305/.396/.569 hitter with 52 home runs against the New York Yankees, although he is only hitting.234/.332/.491 at the new Yankee Stadium. Dustin Pedroia did it to lead off the game and then Ortiz did two batters later.
Before last night’s debacle, Betances had already thrown 36 pitches in total-the previous two outings; which included the blunder of the season, over-throwing Gary Sanchez for an easy out at home plate.
“This one hurts”, manager Joe Girardi said.
Here is what went right (and wrong) in the Red Sox win.
“He created a couple of jams for himself”, Farrell said.
“Gave ourselves a chance to get the offense on track, and then we had a very good offensive night overall”.
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“Given the amount of time down, felt like we’re going to ease Andrew back into this”, Farrell said. The next step is for Wright to throw in Fort Myers, Florida, when the team heads out on a road trip. Veteran RHP Clay Buchholz, 5-9 with a 6.19 ERA lifetime against the Yankees, faces rookie RHP Luis Cessa on Friday in the second game of the series. The Red Sox had seven players in their lineup Friday who entered the game batting at least.284. He’s allowed two or fewer runs in his last six starts.
