In the 62 games in which they have scored four runs or fewer, Boston is 13-49 (.210).
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NY scored single runs in the first and third before chasing Pomeranz with two in the fourth.
But not only do the Yankees have far more prospects, and a far more fertile farm system, they now have serious trade chips if they care to pursue a front-line starter, like Chris Sale or similar. Sabathia had snagged a liner off the bat of Betts and a simple toss to Butler would have ended the inning with no damage. More specifically, in this series, Hanley Ramirez has jumped on it.
Boston Red Sox’s Hanley Ramirez hits a three-run home run during the fifth inning of a baseball … But after falling behind 3-and-1, he didn’t play it safe enough, trying a backdoor slider that got too much of the plate. Not only does it take a little pressure off young guys like Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts, but it gives this Red Sox team a chance to win on any given night.
Things were just getting started! Ramirez finished the series 9-for-16 (.563) with four home runs and nine RBI.
The Red Sox held on to that lead for a 5-4 win.
Romine had a towering two-run triple in the fourth inning.
The Yankees scattered four harmless hits through their final five innings after scoring four times in the first four innings. We were not disappointed.
Yankees starter CC Sabathia cruised through his first four innings, but made a mistake that came back to haunt him while nursing a 4-0 lead in the fifth. While that team is remembered most for losing Game 7 of the ALCS, it also won 95 games, one of just 11 Sox teams to do that through the years.
PHOENIX – Brock Stewart saw his opportunity and seized it. Los Angeles’ rookie pitcher, replacing Bud Norris as the starting pitcher, threw five solid innings and got a boost from a two-run homer by Joc Pederson as the Dodgers rolled to a win over Arizona.
Enter stage left: Hanley Ramirez. Boston, meanwhile, would even the score in the next frame with three consecutive singles from Travis Shaw, Aaron Hill and Jackie Bradley – Joe Girardi was then forced to remove Sabathia with Blake Parker.
Against Boston, Sabathia is 12-13 with a 4.53 ERA and a 1.348 WHIP in 33 starts.
He did just that. That was all the Sox relievers needed. He escaped a bases-loaded jam in the sixth by striking out Dustin Pedroia looking, but Bogaerts led off the seventh with a double on the ball to centre that Ellsbury couldn’t quite get to in the triangle. According to MLBSweeps.com, there have been 140 four-game series this season and now there have been 14 sweeps won by the home team (eight by road teams). They showed great resiliency and were the embodiment of the saying “It’s not over till it’s over”.
He also matched his career high in RBIs at 106, set in 2009 with the Florida Marlins. That means it would take more than Girardi’s beloved binder to solve the Ramirez equation. And like everything else about his dismal first season with the Red Sox, he went only 11-for-47 (.234) with two homers and a.643 OPS against the Yankees in 2015. I can not imagine what it must be like for the Yankees and their fans at the moment. While not an insurmountable deficit, the Yankees have to be disappointed to not gain any ground over a weekend where both the Orioles and Blue Jays played poorly. NY will see how second baseman Starlin Castro feels, a day after he strained his right hamstring and exited early.
Next up for Boston is a huge series with the second place Orioles in what promises to be a slugfest. No such luck. If the Yankees weren’t going to avoid Ramirez entirely, then they had to be flawless in their execution. It will not be easy though, as the Rays have been playing spoilers and are coming off a very tight series against Baltimore. “I feel like we did a good job of that early on”.
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“We don’t give up”, Ramirez said. And as always, stay Boston Strong!
