“He throws hard. He throws 100”. “We’re staying in the zone, getting good pitches to hit and swinging at them”.
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Time and again this season, the Red Sox have been able to erase big leads by the opposition.
“Easily, we could have gone into [today’s] day off winning two out of three”, Rodriguez said as the Yanks prepared to fly to Baltimore for a three-game set beginning Tuesday. The Yankees, perhaps having paid attention to Price’s huge strikeout night against the Braves, were not interested in seeing strike three.
Equally incredibly, it was only the second home run of Vazquez’s career, and first in more than 19 months – he had not homered since September 25, 2014 after sitting out all of last season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. They will head to Chicago in sole possession of first place in the AL East, and no matter what’s going right or wrong on the mound, this lineup can score enough runs to overcome it.
UPDATE 10:29 p.m. – On a 3-2 count, Price gets Rodriguez to ground out 4-3, and the inning is over. David Price, though his ERA is really up there at 6.14, also is unbeaten at 4-0. “What The Dell” screamed the New York Daily News. The Yankees managed to answer in a big way during the third inning when Ronald Torreyes singled to get things started.
Rodriguez drilled a two-run home run to left-center in the third inning and then ripped a two-run double in the fifth inning to the same spot.
“Tonight’s a pretty telltale sign of the character of this team, ” said John Farrell. He went 6 for 14 in the series, along with assembling the first three-game homer streak of his career (see full recap).
“I appreciate him leaving me in in that situation”, Price said.
Rodriguez said people in the section got excited and starting rooting for him to hit a home run. So his velocity has increased from April to May each of the past two seasons. “It doesn’t matter if we’re down two or three runs, or if it’s late in the game”.
The Yankees scored seven runs against David Price and the Boston Red Sox, which was a step in the right direction.
Boston has enjoyed an 8-3 span with plenty of offense, scoring 6.09 runs per game and batting.312 with David Ortiz homering in both games of the series and hitting.423 in his last seven.
Dellin Betances relieved Ivan Nova (1-1) with one on and two outs in the seventh, but Vazquez hit the first pitch over the left-field wall for his first homer of the year, and just the second of his major league career. “Believe me, Dellin is probably the least of my worries”. I’ll take the loss.
“It’s frustrating. I feel like we have a good team, a good offensive unit”, left fielder Brett Gardner said.
But the more interesting aspect of this game lied with the home plate umpire, Dan Iassogna. He yielded six homers all of last season and didn’t give up No. 3 until August 23.
The Yankees scored a run on a Koji Uehara wild pitch in the eighth, but Craig Kimbrel worked a flawless ninth with two strikeouts for his eighth save in nine chances. Walking none, striking out five and allowing six hits.
Entering Sunday night, the Yankees (8-15) had averaged just 2.25 runs per game in losing 12 of their previous 16 to conclude their worst April since 2005. He struck out three.
Porcello allowed five hits and a walk en route to his fifth straight win to open the season as Boston has a chance to sweep a three-game series with its bitter rival in Sunday night’s nationally-televised finale. Ubaldo Jimenez (1-2, 3.91 ERA) will face him.
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(AP Photo/Michael Dwyer). New York Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez, second from right, stands at the railing in the dug out during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Boston Red Sox in Boston, Saturday, April 30, 2016.
