“It was big”, Ramirez said of the win that restored Boston’s two-game lead atop the American League East.
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The most exciting aspect of all of these changes is, without a doubt, the prospect of the NY and Boston rivalry heating up.
Yankees manager Joe Girardi said the team has been through this on the other side understands what to expect.
Then, a amusing thing happened. But apart from the strikeout totals, Tanaka’s length has helped lead him to the league’s best ERA, as well as lead the Yankees closer to the Wild Card race than anyone might have guessed back on August 1.
Had the Red Sox not responded the way they did on Friday night and instead let the Yankees jump back into the pennant race, the momentum gained from a walkoff win on Thursday night would have been for nothing – like bowling a gutter after a spare. You look at the standings, every win matters.
Napoli hit a gift two-run double in the first inning off rookie Michael Fulmer (10-7) and added a towering two-run homer in the fifth that bounced out of Progressive Field as the Indians lowered the magic number for clinching their first division title since 2007 to nine.
With Butler’s homer, righties are hitting.282 against Abad for the season. Tonight the Sox will have Clay Buccholz on the mound against the Yankees, which it is safe to say that this game will not be as incredible as last nights game but anything can happen between the Yankees and the Red Sox. He allowed a one-out double to DJ LeMahieu and a two-out single to Carlos Gonzalez to make it a one-run game. Castro’s single off the pitcher scored the run.
The Yankees have three more games at Fenway, followed by three in Florida against the Tampa Bay Rays and four north of the border against the Jays. They run the bases extremely well. On a 2-2 pitch, the ball got away, but not far enough as Hanley was tagged out trying to score.
“As a reliever, in one inning you don’t want to throw more than 15”. To be fair, the Yankees also barely acknowledged Rodriguez’s retirement and Rodriguez played with the team for majority of his career. The Red Sox’s David Ortiz, Mookie Betts and Hanley Ramirez all have 100-plus RBIs.
On Friday, Girardi’s touch was off again.
David Ortiz hit a homer in the eighth to make things closer, but it was still only 5-2 and if you give Dellin Betances a three-run lead in the ninth you’re usually gonna do OK.
“Our games with the Yankees are unbelievable games”.
The Sox starter also pitched around trouble in the second frame with two runners in scoring position and one out by inducing two lazy fly balls.
Yankees: RHP Luis Cessa (4-1) will start Friday night in Boston.
Nevertheless, this won’t the first time this season that the Yankees have been called on to bounce back from a one-game losing streak. “I’m not really focused about any of these personal numbers”, he said. The three-run blast capped off a five-run inning for the Red Sox, and the win could hardly come at a more critical time. He gave his reasoning for straying from Cessa to begin the sixth.
“The six quality innings (Friday night) were what we needed after a couple of recent short starts”, Red Sox manager John Farrell said.
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“This one hurts”, Girardi said.
