After a Thursday rain postponement, the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees opened their 2022 season at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx on Friday afternoon. New York would take the opener of the three game series 6-5 on a single in the 11th inning by Josh Donaldson.
The scoring got started very quickly. Kike Hernandez led off the game with a walk, and then on a 1-1 pitch Rafael Devers took Gerrit Cole into the second deck in right for a two-run homerun. Xander Bogaerts followed with a single, and JD Martinez knocked him in with an RBI double down the line in right for a 3-0 lead. New York battled right back as Anthony Rizzo hit a one out two-run homer in the bottom half of the inning. The score stayed the same until Giancarlo Stanton led off the fourth with a line drive solo homerun to right to tie it. The Red Sox would jump back into the lead in the sixth when Bogaerts doubled to start things off, and later scored on a Alex Verdugo one out single to right center. DJ LeMahieu tied it back up for the Yankees with a one out opposite field solo homer to right center off Garrett Whitlock in the eighth. Hansel Robles got the game to extras by getting the first two outs of the bottom of the ninth, and then after a double by Aaron Judge and an intentional walk to Rizzo he struck out Stanton swinging. With the runner on second base rule to start the 10th, Bogaerts came through with a one out single to left scoring pinch runner Jonathan Arauz. Jake Diekman started the the last half of the 10th on the mound and would hit LeMahieu with a pitch to put runners on first and second with noone out. Diekman got Joey Gallo to ground out, but the runners were able to move up to second and third. Boston decided to intentionally walk Aaron Hicks to load the bases, and then turned to Ryan Brasier out of the bullpen. Pinch hitter Gleyber Torres tied it 5-5 with a sacrifice fly to center, but Brasier sent it to the 11th inning when he struckout Isiah Kiner-Falefa on the 10th pitch of the at bat. The Red Sox went in order in the top half of the 11th, and Donaldson led off and came through with the game winning single off Kutter Crawford on a 1-1 pitch in the bottom half to score Kiner-Falefa to end it.
Nathan Eovaldi started on the mound and allowed three runs on five hits with one walk and seven strikeouts in 5.0 innings. Diekman got a hold, while Whitlock and Brasier were both charged with blown saves and Crawford was tagged in the loss. Bogaerts had three hits and Verdugo had two. Devers became the first Boston player in history to end a regular season at bat with a homerun, and then start the following season with one in his first at bat. Cole also got a no-decision for New York and only went 4.0 innings allowing three runs on four hits, with Michael King getting the win in relief. Donaldson and Judge both had two hits. Game two is set for 4:05 p.m. on Saturday with RHP Nick Pivetta starting for the Red Sox against RHP Luis Severino for the Yankees.
