Yankees Game 146: Betances struggles again, surrenders walk off in heartbreaker
Despite Masahiro Tanaka's ground out party; Dellin Betances' second difficult appearance leads to a heartbreaking New York Yankees loss.
New York Yankees 5 – Boston Red Sox 7 After losing the interleague series at home, the Yankees began an 11-game road trip in Boston. Against Eduardo Rodriguez in the first inning, Jacoby Ellsbury got on with a one-out single. Gary Sanchez hit a deep fly ball to straight center that bounced over the wall by the bullpen for a ground-rule double, forcing Ellsbury to hold at third base with one out. Starlin Castro brought home Ellsbury with a single. Recently acquired Billy Butler made a warm first impression on his new team when he hit a sacrifice fly to center, putting the Yankees ahead by two before Masahiro Tanaka even touched the mound. After leaving two on base in the second inning, the Yankees added runs in the third inning. With one out, Starlin Castro hit a wall ball double off the Monster in left. He came around to score when Billy Butler came through again, to put the Yankees ahead by three. Chase Headley dunked a single into shallow right that put the Yankees ahead by four, giving Tanaka room to work against the difficult Red Sox lineup. In the bottom of the third inning, Jackie Bradley Jr. led off with a walk. Following a ground out, Dustin Pedroia hit a single to put runners on the corners. Xander Bogaerts walked to load the bases but David Ortiz could only plate one run as he hit a sacrifice fly to left field. In the fourth inning, Brett Gardner led off with a walk against reliever Heath Hembree. With one out, Gardner stole second base and advanced to third on a passed ball. With two outs, Starlin Castro reached on an infield single, scoring Gardner and putting the Yankees ahead, 5-1. Junichi Tazawa came on in the fifth inning, who gave up a lead off double to Didi Gregorius. The Yankees shortstop eluded a tag to successfully steal third base. With a runner on third and no outs, Tazawa silenced the Yankees remarkably. Chase Headley, Rob Refsnyder and Tyler Austin all went down swinging at strike three to strand Gregorius on third base. Tanaka continued to generate ground out after ground out. Andrew Benintendi led off with a double but three ground outs stranded him at third base. Masahiro Tanaka pitched two more scoreless innings to wrap up a good, albeit, unique outing by the Yankees' ace. In seven innings, Masahiro Tanaka allowed one run on four hits. He walked three and struck out none. Tonight was the first start in 74 major league starts that Tanaka did not strike out a batter. What Tanaka did do though, was generate 15 ground outs.
Adam Warren came on in relief for the eighth inning. With one out, David Ortiz took Warren deep to center field for a solo home run. Mookie Betts followed with a single. Travis Shaw walked with two outs to put the tying run at the plate. Adam Warren got Sandy Leon to take the third strike looking to escape the inning with a three-run lead.
In the top of the ninth inning, Gary Sanchez and Starlin Castro led off with singles. With one out, Didi Gregorius walked to load the bases but the continued inability to come up with the big hit with runners on continued. Chase Headley struck out swinging and Mason Williams hit a comebacker to Joe Kelly, who caught it just by his head to end the inning. Attempting to avoid the closer Dellin Betances, the Yankees began the ninth inning with Tommy Layne. The lefty got pinch-hitter Aaron Hill to strikeout swinging. Blake Parker came in to face outfielder Chris Young but he glanced him on the top of the helmet for a hit batter. With things getting testy, the Yankees brought in Dellin Betances. He started his appearance with a walk of Dustin Pedroia. On a ground ball back to Betances by Bogaerts, Betances underhanded it carefully to Sanchez who forced the rundown that got the lead runner out between third and home. David Ortiz made it a two-run game with a single to center field. Mookie Betts made it a one-run game on a single to left field. A passed ball put runners in scoring position but they were in scoring position instantly as Hanley Ramirez took Betances deep to center field for a walk-off, three-run home run.
Win – Joe Kelly (3-0) Loss – Dellin Betances (3-6) Notables Yankees *Starlin Castro – 4 for 5, R, 2B, 2 RBI (69) *Billy Butler – 1 for 5, R, 2 RBI (33) Red Sox *Hanley Ramirez – 1 for 5, R, Walk-off three-run home run (25) in the 9th, 3 RBI (100) *David Ortiz – 3 for 4, R, 2B, Solo home run (34) in the 8th, 3 RBI (114) Current Yankees Record: 77-69