Eduardo Rodriguez #52 of the Boston Red Sox delivers in the second inning of the game against the New York Yankees at Fenway Park on August 11, 2016 in Boston, Massachusetts.
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Unfortunately, what they got instead was yet another crushing blow.
Ortiz is OK: Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz wasn’t going to sit out a late-season game against the rival New York Yankees.
And it punctuated the frustration for Boston fans who had just seen former Red Sox star Jacoby Ellsbury, booed nearly as loudly as Rodriguez, hit a fly ball to left field that rookie Andrew Benintendi misread with the bases loaded.
Rodriguez is being honored in a pregame ceremony Friday.
Boston Red Sox’s David Ortiz, left, scores behind New York Yankees’ Gary Sanchez during the first inning of a baseball game in Boston, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2016.
The Yankees responded when Rodriguez allowed a solo homer to Austin Romine in the top of the third to tie the game at one.
Ramirez’s second homer, to straight away center, stretched the Red Sox’s lead to 8-2.
Ziegler credited the Yankees for the rally in the eighth.
LaGreca said that Jeter issued a congratulatory statement about Ichiro Suzuki after his 3,000th hit, so would A-Rod expect a similar gesture after his final at-bat as a Yankee?
But trailing 2-1 into the eighth, the Yanks rallied against side-winding righty reliever Brad Ziegler, capped by Jacoby Ellsbury’s go-ahead, two-run double – a liner that appeared to be misjudged by rookie left fielder Andrew Benintendi. “It’s kind of a sinking line drive, low trajectory flight of the ball that’s in the lights, and he lost it in the lights”.
Rodriguez was pleased to have the RBI to remember rather than going 0 for 4 in his final game of the AL East rivalry.
While he has 696 home runs, three MVPs and 14 trips to the All-Star game, Rodriguez also involved in two performance-enhancing drug scandals, including a record 162-game suspension in 2014 for his involvement in the Biogenesis scandal.
In New York, last-place Arizona rattled the Mets’ Noah Syndergaard with four more stolen bases, then broke the game open in a six-run sixth inning that included Chris Owings’ bases-loaded triple.
– Rodriguez really had one of his best outings of the year. Yankees starter Michael Pineda was lucky to get through six innings with just two runs. He threw 93 pitches.
Girardi was almost forced to use A-Rod at third during the Yankees’ series in San Diego in July, even telling him to get a glove from the clubhouse as the Yankees tried to force their game against the Padres to extra innings.
– Ortiz crossed home plate for the 634th time at Fenway Park, moving him past Bobby Doerr for fourth all-time in runs scored at Fenway.
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– Ramirez collided with a baserunner while playing first base in the eighth inning. He fell over and looked to be in a lot of pain. Ramirez was checked by a trainer and stayed in the game. “And the proposal is, ‘If I do one of three of the following, you get my bat.’ He was all excited”.
