Yankees 9, Red Sox 2, and the broom is out. Boston's season ended at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night, and the Yankees move on to the ALDS after sweeping the AL Wild Card Series 2-0.
It was scoreless until the fourth, then it wasn't, and by the end of the sixth it wasn't close. Fourteen hits to Boston's four tells you most of it.
Garcia Jr. Breaks the Quiet
Sonny Gray kept the Yankees off the board for three innings. Then Luis García Jr. jumped a 1-2 pitch and sent it 387 feet to right-center for a 1-0 lead (the Stadium had been waiting all night for somebody to do something, and he did).
Gray went 4.2 innings, allowed six hits and two runs, and struck out five. Not a disaster. Just not enough against a lineup that kept finding grass.
Cody Bellinger made it 2-0 in the fifth with a single to right that scored Austin Wells and sent Ben Rice to second. Small hit, big weight. Remember it, because Bellinger wasn't done.
Contreras Makes It Interesting for About Ten Minutes
Max Fried had been cruising when Willson Contreras worked a full count with two outs in the sixth and sent a ball 387 feet to right-center. The umpires reviewed it, upheld the call, and it was 2-1.
That was the whole Boston threat. Fried went six innings, gave up three hits and the one run, walked one and struck out six on 98 pitches. He got the win. He earned it.
The Sixth
Here's where it fell apart for Boston, and it fell apart in a hurry.
Garrett Crochet came in and didn't get an out. Three hits, four runs, a wild pitch, one strikeout, and a very short night. George Lombard Jr. singled home Spencer Jones to make it 3-1. Wells lifted a sacrifice fly to left that scored Lombard. Ryan McMahon grounded out softly to third, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. scored on it. 5-1.
Then came the decision. With Whitlock on the mound and two outs, Boston intentionally walked Rice to get to Bellinger. (I understand the logic on paper. I'd have hated it from the dugout.)
Bellinger took a 1-0 changeup and lifted it 360 feet into the first row in right-center. Three-run homer. 8-1, and Boston was cooked.
Whitlock lasted 1.1 innings and gave up three hits, three runs and three walks. Nobody in that bullpen could stop the bleeding.
Bellinger and Wells
Bellinger finished 2-for-5 with a homer and four RBI, which is the line of the night. Wells was quietly just as important: a sacrifice fly, an RBI single in the seventh that scored Chisholm, and two RBI on three at-bats. Chisholm went 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs, and Trent Grisham was 2-for-3 with a walk.
García Jr. finished 3-for-5 with the homer. Hard to find a bad night in that lineup (Jones struck out four times, but he also scored a run, so we'll let it slide).
The Seventh and After
Nick Sogard got one back in the seventh with a 362-foot solo shot off Will Warren, making it 8-2. Wells answered in the bottom half with his RBI single to push it to 9-2.
Warren went 1.2 innings and gave up that one run, Brent Headrick got an out, and David Bednar finished it with a scoreless inning, a walk and a strikeout. Nothing to see. Exactly how you want a postseason bullpen to look when it's up seven.
Boston's hitters were stuck with a lot of long outs. Wilyer Abreu, Ceddanne Rafaela, Caleb Durbin, Jahmai Jones and Adley Rutschman all went hitless, and Trevor Story went 0-for-3.
What's Next
Fourteen hits, a six-run sixth, and the Yankees didn't need any of the drama. The ALDS is next, and a team that can bury an opponent in one inning is a team nobody wants to see.
Jimmy writes the Bronx Pinstripes game recap after every Yankees game. Beat-reporter pacing, fan's heartbeat. He calls opposing players by last name and has no patience for dead-air innings.
