Ramirez homered twice and drove in four runs to rally the Boston Red Sox over NY 5-4 on Sunday night, completing a four-game sweep that severely diminished the Yankees’ chances of winning the AL East.
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Red Sox’s Hanley Ramirez celebrating his solo home run against the Yankees with teammate Travis Shaw (47) during the seventh inning Sunday night. Some media reports have Garoppollo missing up to six weeks, so it’s likely Brissett will have to get up to speed fast for this Thursday’s game against Houston, and then one more game before Brady is allowed to return from the trumped-up charges against him.
“We could have won all four of these games here”, Girardi said.
The big fifth was set up by a throwing error by Sabathia, yet another example of the Yankees’ sloppiness as they lost their fifth straight game.
Trailing 2-1 and two outs away from a third consecutive loss in the series, the Cardinals now will go for a split when a pair of rookie right-handers, St. Louis’ Alex Reyes and the Giants’ Albert Suarez, square off Sunday afternoon. Ramirez was 9-for-16 with four homers and nine RBIs in the four-game series with the Yankees.Boston (85-64) moved a season-high 21 games over.500 and captured its first sweep of NY (77-72) in a series of four or more games in 26 years since June 4-7, 1990.The Red Sox moved three games ahead of the Baltimore Orioles for first place in the American League East. The Red Sox also had a three-game sweep at home against the Yankees this season.
Those three veterans bring 42 years of experience to the ballpark with them every single day.
“I felt like we probably should have won three of those four, but they made the plays when they needed to, they stepped up when they needed to and it just didn’t go our way”, Mark Teixeira said. Baltimore, though, is tied for first with Toronto in the wild-card race – three games clear of Detroit, Houston and Seattle. But what was Girardi thinking during the game, before the 5-4 loss became final? Later, Jacoby Ellsbury left in the eighth inning with a left knee injury suffered when he slid into the wall in right-center on Bogaerts second double. We all got swept up in their staggering momentum. I think it’s a good time.
“You’ve got to make your pitches”, Girardi said.
Enter stage left: Hanley Ramirez. With three games left against the Yankees in NY, he has 53 home runs against them, tied with Hank Greenberg for the fourth most all-time. Xander Bogaerts was almost halfway to second, giving Sabathia a chance to complete an easy inning-ending double play.
“It’s tough”, Yankees starting pitcher CC Sabathia said. “So that doesn’t make any sense to me”.
Jackie Bradley Jr. had a tying RBI single for the East-leading Red Sox, who overcame a rough start by Drew Pomeranz to post their ninth win in 12 games. A winning record over their next seven games could shore up a playoff spot before the Sox even get to the Bronx for a three-game series September 27.
Then there was Hanley Ramirez, who donned David Ortiz’s gray No. 34 Red Sox jersey, presumably after it had been through the wash. Austin Romine went down easily enough on strikes, leaving Uehara with none other than Gary Sanchez. “Bogaerts put a pretty unbelievable swing on a ball in off the plate”. “It caught too much plate and he was able to keep it fair”. Yankees RHP Anthony Swarzak (shoulder inflammation) was reinstated from the 15-day disabled list and RHP Chad Green (strained right forearm tendon) was moved to the 60-day DL.
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Asked if it will take a miracle to get to the postseason, Teixeira didn’t dispel the idea that his team would benefit from some divine intervention.
