Yankees 9, Red Sox 7
If one bad stretch can be the demise of a team in a 60-game season, then one good stretch can be the building blocks for success. The New York Yankees have started the season with the latter, and their win over the Boston Red Sox Sunday night completed a sweep. The win was their sixth straight, bringing their record to 7-1.
Offensive Highlights
The Yankees won a slugfest Sunday night with a come-from-behind effort, and the offense was once again fueled by right fielder Aaron Judge. Judge, who’s OPS is 1.275, hit two home runs, and he extended his home run streak to five games.
Judge has now hit six home runs in five games, and all six have either tied the game or given the Yankees the lead, demonstrating his ability to hit in the clutch. Despite this past week’s impressive display, manager Aaron Boone does not think he is not locked in yet.
“He’s on a mission right now,” said Boone. “…He’s just a great player that you can tell is feeling really good, and I think continuing to get all the way locked in at the plate.”
Judge echoed his manager’s claim.
“I’m not locked in yet, still trying to find it,” said Judge. “That’s the daily grind of baseball is searching for that locked in feeling.”
Although Judge’s heroics garner the headlines, there was a lot of offense in this game. Before his second home run, the Yankees were able to tie the game in the eighth inning with a Mike Tauchman walk and stolen base preceding a DJ LeMahieu base hit. Luke Voit also homered.
The Red Sox had plenty of offense on their end. Shortstop Xander Bogaerts hit two home runs and had four hits and three runs scored. His average is .333 with a 1.038 OPS on the season. Rafael Devers also homered.
Pitching Highlights
Although 16 total runs were scored in the game, there were some bright spots on the pitching front. For the Yankees, Adam Ottavino and Zack Britton combined to allow two base runners while recording the final seven outs of the game.
James Paxton started the game, but he did not last long. The left-handed pitcher put up another subpar outing, allowing three earned runs in three innings pitcher with four strikeouts. Paxton’s early struggles feature a 13.50 ERA in four innings pitched over two starts.
For the Red Sox, Austin Brice worked around two walks to strike out the side as the opener. Despite the scoreless frame from Brice, Matt Hall pitched the second and third innings and allowed five earned runs. Matt Barnes also struggled, giving up three runs in the eighth inning to take the loss.
Pitching was expected to be the weak aspect of the Red Sox game this year and that appears evident early on. The nine runs they allowed Sunday is a season high, and they have allowed at least five runs in eight of their ten games so far.
Despite recent success from both franchises, the Yankees have dominated the Red Sox in the regular season. They have won 11 of their last 12 meetings with Boston. This series was the first three of ten regular season games between these two teams in 2020.
Main Photo: Embed from Getty Images
