Xander Bogaerts scored on a wild pitch in the 11th inning on Friday night that proved to be the winning run, as the Boston Red Sox bounced back after a four game sweep at the hands of the Tampa Bay Rays with a 5-4 win over the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium in the opener of a three game weekend series.
Boston (48-43) took an early lead in the top of the first inning when Rob Refsnyder drew a leadoff walk, and then Rafael Devers homered to centerfield on the first pitch he saw from Jordan Montgomery to make it 2-0. JD Martinez followed with a double, and Bogaerts singled still with no outs but Montgomery got out of the jam to hold it to just the two runs. New York (62-28) took their only lead of the night in the third inning against Nathan Eovaldi, who was making his first start off the injured list. With one out, DJ LeMahieu singled and with two outs Anthony Rizzo walked to put two men on base. Giancarlo Stanton then took an 0-2 over the short porch in right centerfield for a three-run homer to make it 3-2 Yankees. Christian Vasquez tied the score with a solo homerun to left with one out in the fourth, and then Bobby Dalbec untied it for the Red Sox to make it 4-3 with a leadoff homer to left against Aroldis Chapman in the seventh. Garrett Whitlock, who also was activated off the injured list on Friday for Boston, set down the hosts in order in both the seventh and eighth inning.
Tanner Houck entered in the last of the ninth to try to pick up the save, but ran into some trouble. Gleyber Torres led off with a single, and then Matt Carpenter was hit by a pitch. Isiah Kiner-Falefa would try to sacrifice with a bunt, and Houck would field it but tried to go to third to get the lead runner but the throw got away for an error down the left field line to allow the tying run to score. They would walk Aaron Hicks intentionally to load the bases with no outs. The planned worked as Jose Trevino grounded to Devers at third who came home to force pinch runner Marwin Gonzalez at home, and Vazquez threw to first for the doubleplay. LeMahieu then grounded out to force extra innings. Boston had the bases loaded with two outs in the 10th but couldn’t score as Bogaerts struck out swinging. New York threatened once again in the last of the 10th against Houck. With one out, Rizzo was intentionally walked and Stanton singled to load the bases. The Sox escaped once again when Torres grounded into a twin killing. The game winning run came with two outs in the 11th against Michael King with Bogaerts at third base and Dalbec batting. A wild pitch in the dirt slipped just far enough away from Trevino in front of the plate, and Bogaerts broke for home. Trevino tried to pick it up and get back to try to place a tag on Bogaerts, but lost control of the ball allowing the run to score. Ryan Brasier finished off the victory by striking out Josh Donaldson, getting Kiner-Falefa to groundout, and striking out Hicks on a check swing on a 3-2 pitch.
Bogaerts, Dalbec, and Martinez had two hits each in the win. Eovaldi went 4.1 innings in his return allowing three runs on six hits with two walks and four strikeouts. Whitlock had three strikeouts in his 2.0 innings. Houck (5-3) got credited with the win, and Brasier picked up his first save. LeMahieu had three hits, while Stanton and Carpenter had two each for New York. Montgomery allowed three runs on six hits over 6.0 innings, while King (6-2) took the loss. Game two of the series is Saturday night at 7:15. The Sox send Nick Pivetta (8-6, 4.08 ERA) to the bump, while the Yankees counter with Jameson Taillon (9-2, 4.01). Boston has a losing record against every other team in the American League East, but is 4-4 with New York including three wins in a row.
