YANKEES SWEEP RAYS, BUT ALMOST GET SWEPT BY BOSTON

Last week started off great. The Yankees won two games against the Tampa Bay Rays but lost their momentum when the Boston Red Sox came to the Bronx. 

 

In game 1 against the Rays the Yankees tied a club record of 9 home runs. Carlos Rodon got the start and allowed 2 runs in five innings. Shane Baz allowed 6 runs in three innings as did Ian Seymour. In the first inning Aaron Judge (his 40th), Cody Bellinger and Giancarlo Stanton hit back to back to back home runs. Jose Caballero hit a 2 run home run in the second inning. Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a home run in the third inning. Stanton hit a second home run in the fifth inning, a 3 run shot followed by a solo home run by Ben Rice. Bellinger hit a 2 run home run in the sixth inning, his second of the night. Caballero hit his second home run in the ninth inning. The Yankees won 13-3. 

 

Game 2, Cam Schlittler had a perfect game going until the seventh inning. He finished the game giving up 1 hit in 6 2/3 innings and struck out 8. The bullpen struggled after that allowing a combined 4 runs. Drew Rasmussen, pitching for the Rays, allowed 3 runs in 6 innings and struck out 5. Trent Grisham started off the game with a leadoff home run. Austin Wells hit a home run in the fifth inning. Grisham hit another home run in the eighth inning. The Rays didn’t score until the eighth inning when Bob Seymour hit a home run off Luke Weaver. They tied the game in the ninth inning off a double by Hunter Feduccia. The Yankees took the lead back in the tenth inning with back to back home runs by Giancarlo Stanton and Wells, his second of the night. Seymour hit a RBI single in the 10th for the Rays, but only 1 run scored. The Yankees won 6-4. David Bednar earned the win and Devin Williams earned his 18th save.

The Yankees then headed back to the Bronx for a four game series against the Boston Red Sox. With the battle for the wild card position in the AL East this was an important series for the Yankees. Unfortunately the Yankees struggled at bat and on the field. Fortunately though, they avoided the sweep. The Yankees are a half a game behind the Red Sox for the wild card position still.

Game 1, Luis Gil pitched against Lucas Giolito. Gil pitched five innings, allowed 2 runs, 1 earned, struck out 3 and had 5 walks. Giolito pitched 4 2/3 innings, allowed 3 runs, and struck out 4. The Red Sox bullpen consisting of 5 pitchers shut out the Yankees and held them to only 3 hits the rest of the game. The Yankees were back to making errors on the field, as numerous throwing errors in the second inning allowed the Red Sox to score a run. Ben Rice tied the game that inning with a solo home run. The back and forth continued as Goldschmidt hit a RBI single in the fourth inning to take the lead but Nathaniel Lowe hit a RBI sacrifice fly later that inning to tie the game again. The next inning Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a RBI single giving the Yankees the lead for the second time only for the Red Sox to tie it again in the sixth inning with a RBI single by Rookie Roman Anthony after Camilo Doval got called for a disengagement violation. Lowe hit a RBI double in the seventh inning giving the Red Sox the lead. Anthony hit a 2 run home run in the ninth inning securing the win for the Red Sox. Final score was 6-3.

Game 2 was a pitching battle between Max Fried and Brayan Bello. Unfortunately the win went to Bello who pitched seven innings, allowed 3 hits and struck out 5. Fried pitched six innings, allowed 4 hits and struck out 7. The Red Sox won 1-0. Their lone run was a RBI double by Connor Wong in the seventh inning off Mark Leiter Jr.

Game 3 did not go well for the Yankees pitchers. Will Warren pitched 4 innings and allowed 5 runs. He was relieved by Tim Hill who pitched 1 2/3 innings and only allowed 2 hits but Hill was relieved by Paul Blackburn. Blackburn was recently cut by the NY Mets and signed by the Yankees last Thursday. Blackburn was 0-3 with a 6.85 era before the Mets released him. He pitched 3 1/3 innings in this game and allowed 7 runs. The Red Sox won 12-1. Garrett Crochet pitched 7 innings, allowed 1 run and struck out 11 for the Red Sox. The Yankees lone run was a home run by Giancarlo Stanton in the fourth inning.

Game 4 the Yankees avoided the sweep and won 7-2 thanks to Carlos Rodon. Rodon pitched 5 2/3 innings and allowed 2 runs. Dustin May pitched 4 1/3 innings for the Red Sox and allowed 5 runs. The Red Sox brought in Walker Buehler to pitch 2 1/3 innings and he allowed 2 runs. Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a 2 run home run in the second inning. Trent Grisham continued to stay hot with a home run in the third inning. Jose Caballero hit a RBI sacrifice fly in the fourth inning. Grisham hit another home run in the fifth inning. The Red Sox’s two runs came from a RBI single by Nathaniel Lowe in the sixth inning after Rodon walked the bases loaded and Luke Weaver gave up the single. Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit his second home run of the game, a 2 run shot, in the eighth inning.

The Yankees continue to be a half a game behind the Red Sox and 5.5 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays for the AL East. They head into the new week with a three game series against the Washington Nationals and a four game series against the Chicago White Sox. This is a good week for them to make up some ground with some wins. Let’s go Yankees!