New York Yankees 0 – Boston Red Sox 8
The struggles of the offense continue in the second of three in Boston.
Michael Pineda started tonight’s game for the Yankees and finding the third out was problematic. In the first inning, Pineda got the first two outs before he walked Xander Bogaerts and gave up a single to David Ortiz. He avoided danger by striking out Hanley Ramirez. The Yankees got two singles with two outs against Rick Porcello but came up empty on a ground out.
In the second inning, Pineda got the first two outs before Christian Vazquez hit a single and Jackie Bradley followed with a double to put two in scoring position. Mookie Betts made the most of it when he hit a two-run double in the most unlikely of ways, dropping it into shallow right field.
In search of a silver lining to Michael Pineda’s start, he began putting up zeroes in the third inning. He let one batter reach in the fourth inning but stranded him and in the fifth inning, he pitched a perfect inning to end on strong note.
In five innings, Michael Pineda allowed two runs on five hits with three walks and three strikeouts. His inability to find the third out in three of his five innings elevated his pitch count to 106, easily too much in that amount of innings.
In the top of the fifth inning, the Yankees had one of their better scoring opportunities despite a double play following Brian McCann‘s second hit of the game. Didi Gregorius walked and Chase Headley got on base with an infield single but Jacoby Ellsbury grounded out to end the inning.
In the sixth inning, Chasen Shreve followed a dreadful habit of Pineda by not finding the third out. Sandwiching a walk between two strikeouts, Jackie Bradley came through with a run-scoring triple. Reliever Kirby Yates followed and gave up a run-scoring, infield single to Mookie Betts. He walked Dustin Pedroia but got Xander Bogaerts to ground out to end the inning.
With the recent offense, four runs was more than enough to defeat the Yankees but the Red Sox really put some distance in the seventh inning.
Against Johnny Barbato, David Ortiz got into a good hitter’s count and hit. The solo home run gave the Red Sox a five-run lead and Barbato compounded the problem. After a walk to Hanley Ramirez and a single by Travis Shaw, Brock Holt hit a ground ball that Starlin Castro could not come up with for a fielding error that scored a run. Barbato got the first out of the inning but that was all he could get after throwing 30 pitches. Nick Goody came in to face Jackie Bradley, who liked the sixth inning triple he did it one more time in the seventh inning, bringing home two runs and extending the lead to eight. Nick Goody finished the seventh and eighth inning but threw 38 pitches. Safe to say, Barbato and Goody could see themselves demoted for the time being after their workload.
In the final three innings of the game, the Yankees had one batter reach on a fielding error but could not manage a walk or a hit to end tonight’s dreadful shutout.
The offense managed just five hits tonight.
Win – Rick Porcello (5-0)
Loss – Michael Pineda (1-3)
Notables
Yankees
*Brian McCann – 2 for 3
*Chase Headley – 1 for 3
Red Sox
*Jackie Bradley – 3 for 3, 2 R, BB, 2B, 2 3B, 3 RBI (13)
*Mookie Betts – 2 for 5, 2B, 3 RBI (17)
Current Yankees Record: 8-14
