Series Recap: Yankees 86 Dead Sox
The New York Yankees did not let the Boston Red Sox get hot, and it's going to be a long, cold baseball fall and winter in New England. It honestly felt like the late '90s with the Yankees cruising toward a title run and breezing by their irrelevant rivals. The "20-18" chant is the new "19-18" chant, as the Yankees went 14-5 this season against the Red Sox. See you in 86 years boys.
GAME 1
The opening game had the feel of a game in the late '90s. Yes, the rivalry will always be there to a degree, but it was the desperate third-place Red Sox against the first-place Yankees with bigger fish to fry. After a conga line of bullpen arms from Boston to Pawtucket, three hits didn't get the job done as the Yankees dropped the opener 6-1.
MINGO MEH
Domingo German was alright in the early going, but it felt more like a tuneup outing. German lasted 4.1 frames, fanning five and yielding five runs, four walks, and three hits. The decisive blow came in the fourth frame: Mitch Moreland mashed a three-run homer, increasing the Red Sox advantage to 4-0.
BRETT BANGS
The dugout roofs are so low at Fenway Park, I'm surprised Brett Gardner didn't bang a hole through the roof with his bat. Gardner did bang against Boston reliever No. 4, Andrew Cashner, tying a career-high by hitting home run No. 21 to right for a solo shot in the fifth inning.
GAME 2
The Yankees showed the Red Sox what a starting pitcher looks like Saturday afternoon. It was another Boston bullpen day, but they couldn't parrot the same success from the evening prior. New York bounced back with a 6-1 victory.
HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN
Is J.A. Happ good again? J.A. Happ is good again! The veteran southpaw ran his consecutive scoreless innings streak to 15.1 with 6.1 scoreless frames. Happ was brought in here to be a Boston killer, and he looked like every bit of his 2018 version in this outing. The lefty yielded two hits, one walk and fanned seven. Way to go doppelganger!
https://twitter.com/Yankees/status/1170488411255427073?s=20
THAT'S ASSAULT, BROTHA!
J.D. Martinez was a mess in right field. While Martinez accounted for lone Boston run with a solo homer off Aroldis Chapman in the ninth, he let the ball and the sun play him, and he appeared to assault an unsuspecting female Yankees fan in the stands. Like I said, a complete disaster.
https://twitter.com/GeorgesBoxPod/status/1170459548261474304?s=20
During the fourth frame, DJ LeMahieu got the ball rolling with a single to left off Ryan Weber. With one down, Didi Gregorius lined a ball to right that went off the glove of Martinez but was ruled a double.
Facing Colten Brewer, the ensuing batter, Gary Sanchez, found Martinez again, dunking a ball into no man's land in right for a two-run ground-rule double.
PARROT PUNCH
Edwin Encarnacion would make the Red Sox pay for their nonsense pitching and fielding. Papa parrot popped a two-run tater to Pawtucket, over Green Monster, providing New York with a 4-0 lead.
https://twitter.com/MLBONFOX/status/1170445058996260864?s=20
Additionally, in the ninth, Encarnacion showed why you shouldn't make him mad by hitting one of his teammates. After Mike Shawaryn drilled Sanchez with a fastball between the two and four on his back, Encarnacion responded with an RBI-double to left-center.
GAME 3
On Sunday Night Baseball, the Yankees shook the Red Sox and broke their front office in the process. Following a 10-5 Yankees victory, the Red Sox fired GM Dave Dombrowski.
GT IGNITES
When Rick Porcello and Masahiro Tanaka lock horns, don't expect a pitcher's duel. New York hopped all over Porcello early, including the second stanza when after an Encarnacion single to left, Torres thumped a two-run tater to left for a 2-0 edge.
https://twitter.com/Yankees/status/1170860026925330432?s=20
In the next inning, an RBI-single by Judge and a Sanchez ground out doubled the advantage to 4-0.
Mike Tauchman, who would later leave the game with a grade two calf strain that effectively ended his season, placed the finishing touches on Porcello with a two-run smash to right in the fourth.
TANAKA TIGHT LEASH
It was evident manager Aaron Boone wasn't going to allow the Red Sox to make things interesting against Tanaka. Tanaka surrendered a two-run homer to left to Jackie Bradley Jr. in the third, which halved the Yankee lead at 4-2. During the fourth frame, a Moreland RBI-double and a Sandy Leon RBI-double brought the Bosox within two again at 6-4. After the Yankees expanded the lead to four in the fifth, Boone wasn't about to let Boston creep back into the game, opting to hand the ball off to Chad Green, Adam Ottavino and Jonathan Loaisiga to finish off this one.
A NEW RECORD
The Bronx Bombers played the long ball in the fifth, increasing their advantage to four. Facing Ryan Brasier, Judge jolted a solo smash to left and in the process, the Yankees surpassed a franchise record 267 set in 2018 with 268 team home runs this season.
https://twitter.com/Yankees/status/1170881645244813312?s=20
A Torres ground out against Trevor Kelley would increase the lead to 8-4.
TORRES TORCHES
Despite a Mookie Betts homer off Ottavino in the eighth, it didn't take long for the Yankees to get that run back and more.
During the ninth inning, an Encarnacion RBI-single off Marcus Walden made it 9-5. Torres put the finishing touches on the scoring with an RBI-double off Hector Velazquez to make it 10-5.
GAME 4
The Red Sox rolled out David Ortiz and Luis Tiant, and pretended everything was normal. Yet, that didn't stop the Yankees from playing the role of the undertaker and putting this very irrelevant team out of their misery in 2019, with a 5-0 shutout.
JAMES SENDS 'EM PAXING
Aside from Bradley Jr., James Paxton was dialed in against the Bosox. Paxton hurled 6.2 scoreless frames, whiffed seven, yielding four hits and three walks. Paxton featured a nice array of curves, fastballs, and cutters and looked as sharp as he has all season.
https://twitter.com/Yankees/status/1171260107038121984?s=20
AUSTIN, AUSTIN, MASSACHUSETTS
Handling the duties behind and at the dish was Austin Romine. While Eduardo Rodriguez was providing the Red Sox with an actually decent start, Romine changed that in the fifth. Romine, who also doubled and walked, smacked a 2-0 fastball and went oppo taco to right to get the Bronx Bombers on the board.
https://twitter.com/Yankees/status/1171222368066441216?s=20
SHELLED
Gio Urshela displayed how he's feeling off the IL in the seventh. Urshela crushed a 2-0 fastball from Darwinzon Hernandez, above the Green Monster to double the New York advantage. The Yankees clearly want their home run record back (here's looking at you, Minnesota Twins!).
https://twitter.com/Yankees/status/1171234780760936448?s=20
Later in the frame, LeMahieu would single home a run and a Torres sac fly against Kelley would make it 4-0.
Placing the cherry on top in the ninth was Voit with an RBI-single off Shawaryn, making it 5-0.
ON DECK
At 95-50, the Yankees travel to the Motor City for a three-game series against the Detroit Tigers starting Tuesday evening.
Pitching probables: TBD vs. Edwin Jackson, CC Sabathia vs. Matthew Boyd, J.A. Happ vs. Spencer Turnbull.