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Yankees Take Game 2

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BRONX – (Wire Service Report) – New York’s Austin Wells hit a tie-breaking single with two outs in the eighth inning and the hometown Yankees avoided elimination with a 4-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox in Game 2 of their American League wild-card series on Wednesday night.

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Game 3 of the best-of-three set will be played Thursday in New York and the winner will advance to face the top-seeded Toronto Blue Jays in the AL Division Series on Saturday.

Trevor Story drove in three runs off New York starter Carlos Rodon. He hit a two-run single in the third and blasted a game-tying homer to open the sixth.

Guardians 6, Tigers 1

CLEVELAND – (Wire Service Report) – The Guardians’ Brayan Rocchio belted a go-ahead solo homer and Bo Naylor had a three-run shot as part of a five-run eighth inning, giving Cleveland a victory over Detroit in Game 2 of their American League wild-card series.

Rocchio’s 379-foot shot to right field occurred after Troy Melton (0-1) retired C.J. Kayfus to start the eighth, giving Cleveland a 2-1 advantage. Steven Kwan followed with a double and was driven in by Daniel Schneeman.

The Central Division champion Guardians forced a winner-take-all Game 3 at home Thursday, when they will attempt to become the first team to advance after losing Game 1 since the current wild-card format became permanent in 2022. The Tigers left 15 on base and went 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position.

Padres 3, Cubs 0

CHICAGO – (Wire Service Report) – San Diego’s Manny Machado belted a two-run homer in the fifth inning, helping visiting San Diego square their National League wild-card series against Chicago at one win apiece.

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Fernando Tatis Jr. scored on a sacrifice fly from Jackson Merrill in the first inning. Luis Arraez contributed two of the seven hits for the Padres. Adrian Morejon (1-0) relieved starter Dylan Cease in the fourth inning and did not allow a hit over 2 1/3 scoreless innings.

Opener Andrew Kittredge (0-1) gave up the first inning run and Shota Imanaga pitched the next four innings, allowing Machado’s blast. San Diego pitching allowed only four hits; Seiya Suzuki accounted for the lone extra-base hit, a two-out double in the fourth.

–Field Level Media

High Priced Pitchers Square Off

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BRONX – (Wire Service Report) – Max Fried and Garrett Crochet lived up to expectations in sparkling debut seasons as No. 1 starters for the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.

Now it gets real.

Crochet (Red Sox) and Fried (Yankees) delivered after being acquired in the offseason to become staff aces at the center of baseball’s most historic rivalry, and the left-handers find themselves front and center as Game 1 starters in the American League wild-card series starting Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium.

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The AL East archrivals fight it out in the wild-card round for the first time and best-of-three series winner advances to the division series.

Yankees Do More Damage to Sox

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BOSTON – (Wire Service Report) – New York’s Jazz Chisholm Jr. went 3-for-5 with a home run and three RBIs to help lift the visiting Yankees to a 5-3 win over the Boston Red Sox on Saturday.
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The Yankees (83-65) scored twice in the first inning and never relinquished a 4-0 lead built by the fifth inning, though Jarren Duran‘s pinch-hit solo home run in the eighth brought the hosts back within a run.
Cody Bellinger went 2-for-4 with two RBIs, including a two-out double high off the Green Monster to drive home an important insurance run against Boston reliever Aroldis Chapman, who allowed a run for the second straight outing. Aaron Judge (2-for-3, two runs) singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch to set up the RBI opportunity.

New York starter Max Fried (17-5) earned the win despite allowing nine hits and two walks across 5 1/3 innings. He allowed just two runs and struck out six. David Bednar posted his 24th save to secure New York’s second straight win in the three-game set.

Alex Bregman and Duran both homered for the Red Sox (81-68), while Nate Eaton, Nick Sogard and Connor Wong each had two hits.
The Yankees took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. After loading the bases with nobody out against Boston starter Brayan Bello (11-7), Bellinger skied a sacrifice fly to deep center to score the first run, then Chisholm’s swinging-bunt single infield to the third base side drove in their second run.
Fried escaped jams in the first two innings. Three straight Red Sox reached to start the second, but Eaton was tagged out while attempting to go first-to-third on Sogard’s single.
After Bello got out of his first-inning trouble with consecutive strikeouts and fanned three in a row spanning into the second inning, Chisholm’s RBI single through the right side in the third upped the New York lead to 3-0.
The fifth inning saw the teams trade two-out solo homers. Chisholm’s towering shot to right made it a 4-0 Yankees lead, and in the bottom half of the frame, Bregman got the hosts on the board when he clanked the right-field pole for his first round-tripper since Aug. 12.
Three straight one-out hits in the sixth — by Eaton, Sogard and Wong — brought the Red Sox within 4-2 and chased Fried. Wong singled in a run, but reliever Luke Weaver struck out back-to-back batters to end the inning.
Bello allowed four runs on five hits across in five innings, breaking his streak of 14 consecutive scoreless frames against New York this season.
–Field Level Media

Yankees Take Sox, Take Charge, Take Game and a Half Advantage

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BOSTON – (Staff Report) – In mid-September baseball with a postseason berth on the line, lethargic, pathetic, error-filled and one run producing baseball is not the remedy for a win. Not in the opening game, an important game in an important three-game, weekend series for the Boston Red Sox against the New York Yankees – on September 12th.

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The Red Sox game line read: 1 – 2 – 3 … that’s one run, two hits and three errors. The final score? New York 4, Boston 1.

How is it possible to compete while going hitless through six innings at Fenway Park – a bandbox full of run producing delicacies.

Not tonight.

The first glitch was Sox starter Lucas Giolito grooving a 92-mph four seamer down the Mass Turnpike which New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge whacked 468-feet, at the least, for a 1-0 NYY lead in the first inning.

Judge’s homer was his 362 career HR, passing the legendary Joe DiMaggio for the fourth most homers in New York Yankees franchise history. Judge trails only Babe Ruth (659), Mickey Mantle (536) and Lou Gehrig (493) in NYY franchise home runs.

Judge’s first inning homer also marked the 46th Yankees homer in the opening frame, leading the Majors this season and tying the Cincinnati Reds of 2019 for second-most of any team in the last 75 years. Only the Atlanta Braves are ahead of New York when the Braves concluded the season with 47 in 2023.

Sox bats were asleep at the wheel.

Besides the lackluster effort at the plate, the Red Sox also put a final boxscore in the Elias Sports Bureau records that tallied – let us count the ways – 1). A catcher’s interference error by Carlos Narvaez led directly to NY right-fielder Cody Bellinger’s base hit to allow Judge to score the second run. That was 2-zip, after three.

Fielding and throwing errors?  Sox second baseman David Hamilton scratched out both.

It was all too much to overcome Luis Gil’s no-hit effort through six innings pitched. Gil allowed no hits, no runs while walking four and striking out four. After the six innings and 93 pitches (54 strikes), Gil gave way to RHP Fernando Cruz who lost the team no hitter when Boston right fielder Nate Eaton homered to left field in the seventh inning (3-1, NY).

It all added up to Boston losing the second straight game, losing their seventh game of the last 10 at Fenway Park (since 8-17-25) which comes after winning nine of the previous 10 games in Boston (July 26-to-August 16.

Gil was credited with the win and is (4-1) on the season while Giolito (10-4) took the loss. New York’s reliever, David Bednar, earned his 23rd save of the season.

Interestingly, Giolito is now (5-1) in his last seven home starts, pitching at an incredible 0.80 ERA. He has allowed only one or zero earned runs over 5.2 IP in those seven games. Over his last 17 starts, Giolito is (9-3) with a 2.29 ERA and a .211 opponent batting average.

That wasn’t good enough for tonight and the Red Sox will now rely upon RHP Brayan Bello (11-6) to pitch Saturday and ace LHP Garrett Crochet (15-5) to throw vs. New York on Sunday. The Yankees will counter with ace LHP Max Fried (16-5) on Saturday and RHP Will Warren (8-6) to go Sunday.

The Yankees are now a game and a half ahead of Boston in the AL East standings with the same lead in the American League Wild Card race. Seattle holds the final Wild Card slot and leads the Texas Rangers by 1.5 games.

 

Yanks Invade Fenway for Weekend

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BOSTON – (Wire Service Preview) – Two big rivals, one big series this weekend in Boston.

With just a half-game separating them behind the first-place Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East standings, the New York Yankees (81-65) and Boston Red Sox (81-66) begin their final head-to-head set of the regular season Friday night.

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The Red Sox have missed the playoffs in three straight and five of the last six seasons, meaning that series of this magnitude between the two have been few and far between of late. It didn’t take Boston newcomer Alex Bregman long to figure out the meaning, especially in the midst of a playoff chase.

“It’s so cool playing against those guys,” the third baseman said to USA Today. “Just fun games, pressure-packed, great environment. It was a lot of fun living out that childhood dream, watching those games on TV and watching them play in October.”

Boston’s three-out-of-four series victory in the Bronx last month (Aug. 21-24) marked Bregman’s first taste of the rivalry. He went 7-for-16 after being sidelined for the teams’ first six games against each other back in June.

The Red Sox settled for spitting a six-game road trip following Wednesday’s 5-4 walk-off loss to the Athletics. The game ended with closer Aroldis Chapman allowing two hits and his first run since July 23.

“At one point, he was going to give it up,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “It just happened that it was (Wednesday). … We’re going home now. Just be ready for Friday.”

Now, right-hander Lucas Giolito (10-3, 3.38 ERA) will take the mound back at home.

Giolito allowed four runs (two earned) on seven hits across five innings in last Saturday’s loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. He had won his two prior starts, including eight shutout innings against the Baltimore Orioles on Aug. 26.

Giolito is 3-2 with a 4.99 ERA in six career starts against New York.

While the Red Sox had Thursday off, the Yankees blitzed the Detroit Tigers 9-3 to avoid losing three in a row.

Massachusetts native Cam Schlittler pitched six innings of one-run ball.

Aaron Judge (3-for-4, two home runs) and Boston-area youngster Ben Rice (two doubles, RBI) helped support Schlittler’s effort. Judge tied Joe DiMaggio for fourth on the Yankees’ all-time home run list (361).

“Everybody had each other’s back,” Judge said. “We knew we had (Schlittler) on the mound, who wasn’t gonna give up too many runs. Just have to get one or two runs for a guy like that. It was a big day.”

New York banged out 14 hits, including two more from Jose Caballero, who made a second straight start in Anthony Volpe’s place.

Volpe (.206 average) had a cortisone shot in his left shoulder Wednesday, but Yankees manager Aaron Boone expects him “to be OK in the next couple days.”

“Obviously, we’re down to the end, and as I’ve said, it’s kind of all hands on deck, and do what we think is best, day in, day out,” Boone said.

Meanwhile, New York starting pitchers have allowed two or fewer earned runs in 15 of the team’s last 17 games. Right-hander Luis Gil (3-1, 3.31) looks to keep that streak going for a sixth consecutive start Friday. He is 1-1 with a 1.27 ERA in four career starts against the Red Sox.

Gil beat Toronto last Saturday by working around four walks to allow just one run over six innings.

“Hopefully, we can just start to build where the command and control is there with the stuff following,” Boone said.

–Field Level Media

Slaughterhouse Nine in Da Bronx

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BRONX – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – After another win over the New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox were unclear about why they are dominating their longest rival.

The Red Sox hope to field more inquiries about getting another victory over the Yankees on Sunday night when the American League East foes conclude a four-game set in New York.

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The Red Sox will seek a series sweep.

Boston is 8-1 in the season series, and after starting with a 9-6 loss on June 6, the Red Sox have outscored the Yankees 48-22. Three of Boston’s major-league-leading 20 games with at least 10 runs have come against the Yankees, including Saturday’s 12-1 rout.

Trevor Story had three of Boston’s 17 hits with a two-run double and a solo homer in the opening five innings Saturday. Story got his third hit during a seven-run ninth inning and is batting .351 (13-for-37) with two homers and 11 RBIs in the season series.

Carlos Narvaez had three hits, including a two-run homer, as Boston scored its most runs against the Yankees in New York since a 13-9 victory on Sept. 7, 2013. Narvaez is hitting .284 (78-for-275) in its past eight games against the Yankees.

“Just playing good baseball,” Story said. “I don’t know if there’s a certain thing you can pinpoint. Obviously tensions are high, the rivalry and all that, but we’re just playing good baseball I think at the right time.”

Boston’s eight-game winning streak over the Yankees is the longest since from Sept. 20, 2020, to July 16, 2021. The Red Sox last won nine straight over the Yankees Sept. 28, 2008, to June 11, 2009.

The Yankees are trying to avoid getting swept in a four-game series by the Red Sox for the first time since Aug. 2-5, 2018, in Fenway Park.

“We’re definitely angry, especially against your rivals,” New York captain Aaron Judge said Saturday. “We don’t like the showing we’ve had here at home. We just got to step up. That’s it. Everybody in this room has got to play a little bit better, pick up a notch and go out there and take care of business tomorrow.”

Giancarlo Stanton homered, but the Yankees struck out 13 times, and their bottom four hitters of Trent Grisham, Anthony Volpe, Jose Caballero and Austin Wells were a combined 0-for-13.

[Read more…] about Slaughterhouse Nine in Da Bronx

Sox Find Way to Beat Yankees

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BRONX, NY – (Wire Service Report) – Even when they struggle to produce the big hit, the Boston Red Sox are finding ways to beat the Yankees. Their latest win was due in large part to three players who had a combined zero hits in their early-season success vs. New York.

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The Red Sox will attempt to grab the first American League wild-card position and earn a seventh straight win over the Yankees when the rivals continue a four-game series Friday night in New York.

Boston leads the season series 6-1 after losing seven of the 13 meetings last season. The Red Sox moved within a half-game of the Yankees for the top AL wild-card position on Thursday when they opened the series with a 6-3 victory.

Boston went 3-for-19 with runners in scoring position but got big nights from rookie Roman Anthony, newcomer Nathaniel Lowe and Alex Bregman, who was on the injured list in June during the clubs’ two series in June.

Anthony, who debuted June 9, hit a two-run homer in the ninth and drove in three runs in his Yankee Stadium debut. He produced two of Boston’s hits with runners in scoring position. Anthony is hitting .373 (19-for-51) in that area and has three homers in his past nine games after hitting two in the first 50 games of his career.

“It’s probably what I imagined, and maybe even a little more,” Anthony said of playing in New York. “But it’s exciting. For me, I love playing in that atmosphere. I love getting booed, I love everything about it, so it’s fun.”

Lowe, who joined the Red Sox on Monday, drove in two runs with a sacrifice fly and tiebreaking double. He has reached four times in 11 plate appearances for Boston.

Bregman had three hits and a walk, and he is hitting .337 (28-for-83) over his past 23 games.

After tying their season high with five straight wins, the Yankees played one of their sloppiest games in weeks, committing four errors. Paul Goldschmidt and Luis Gil made fielding miscues while Ben Rice and Jazz Chisholm Jr. made errant throws.

The Yankees but issued nine walks on Thursday, their second-highest total of the season. Rice homered and Goldschmidt and Chisholm hit RBI singles, but New York stranded 10. The Yankees have scored only seven runs in their past four games against Boston.

“Just not a real clean game for us,” said Yankees manager Aaron Boone, whose team is still 9-4 in the past 13 games. “Obviously a lot of free bases there.”

Max Fried (13-5, 3.26 ERA), who is 2-3 with a 7.20 ERA in his past six outings, will start for the Yankees on Friday. On Saturday in St. Louis, he earned the win despite allowing a season-high seven runs on eight hits in five-plus innings during a 12-8 victory.

“I think stuff-wise, he’s very close to who he’s been all year and who he’s been when he’s been at his very best,” Boone said Thursday afternoon. “So I do feel like it’s something that hopefully can click because he’s probably been searching for a little bit out there and fighting himself a little bit out there.”

Fried is 2-1 with a 2.84 ERA in three career starts against the Red Sox. He took the loss June 15 at Boston when he allowed two runs on six hits in seven innings.

Boston’s Friday starter, Brayan Bello (9-6, 3.23 ERA), will attempt to reach double-digit victories for the third straight season. The right-hander last pitched on Saturday, when he allowed two runs on four hits over 6 1/3 innings to beat the Miami Marlins.

Bello opposed Fried on June 15 and threw seven scoreless innings and surrendered only three hits in seven innings during a 2-0 win. He is 4-3 with a 2.21 ERA in nine career starts against the Yankees.

–Field Level Media

A Father’s Day “Save” for Whitlock

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By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk

BOSTON – (Wire Services Contributed to this Story) – For the first time in his career of facing the New York Yankees, Garrett Whitlock found out what pressure is all about. Although he sported a 2.12 ERA vs. the vaunted Yankees over his five years in the majors, the Boston reliever faced more pressure today than he ever knew he would see.

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Whitlock was on the mound at Fenway Park with a 2-0 lead on Father’s Day. He now has a 15-month old son to provide for and closing out a game against the Yankees and gaining a sweep for his Boston team might establish his role with the Sox and even help pay some bills down the road.

After successfully putting out a brush fire in the 8th inning by coercing New York slugger Aaron Judge to ground into an inning ending double play, Whitlock took the mound for the 9th.

A ground out to Yankees OF Cody Bellinger provided the first out, and then the 36,475 fans (sans, maybe 3,000 NY fans) stood to support the new Dad. A strike-out of Jazz Chisholm added to the drama.

Then, the “baby got new shoes” when Whitlock struck-out NY shortstop Anthony Volpe to secure the Boston win and send the Fenway faithful home with the Sox’ fifth straight victory, their seventh of the last eight, eighth of the last nine and their 10th of the last 15 games played.

Boston is now (37-36) on the season and trail the first first place Yankees by 6.5 games after the three-game sweep.

When Boston walked into Yankee Stadium on June 6, they trailed the New Yorkers by 9.5 games. The 9-6 loss in the Bronx made it 10.5 back. But, since then, Boston has won five in a row against NY and they’ve climbed back into an American League East race that is likely to go down to the last days of September.

The Red Sox scored early on this grand Father’s Day in Boston. In a game played under bright, semi-overcast skies and in a lovely 64 degrees, three mph breeze, Boston 1B Romy Gonzalez tripled in the home half of the 1st inning, and SS Trevor Story knocked him in with a base hit.

That one run would prove to be enough, but Boston tacked up another in the 5th inning when DH Rafael Devers clocked an opposite field home run into the front row of the Green Monster seats in left field. A video review proved the two umpires who made the call correct and the scoring for the day was complete.

Red Sox starting pitcher Brayan Bello threw a career-high 114 pitches over seven innings to secure the victory, his third of the season. Bello allowed only three hits, three walked batters while striking out eight Yankees.

A rather shakey 0.1 inning of relief by Red Sox reliever Brennan Bernardino provided the Yanks with two baserunners after singles by pinch hitter Paul Goldschmidt and centerfielder Trent Grisham were cause of Sox manager Alex Cora to pull the plug and insert the young father.

Whitlock did his job and the Red Sox won, 2-0.

Boston will not rest easy this evening, as the club departs today for a nine game road trip, starting tomorrow (Monday) night in Seattle. The three games in the Queen City are to be followed by three in San Francisco and three more in Los Angeles, against the American League Angels.

The Sox Are Surging

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The host Boston Red Sox have an opportunity this afternoon to sweep the New York Yankees for the first time in a three-game series since August 2023. In the making of that task, the Red Sox have a four game win streak, have won six of their last seven games, seven of nine games, and nine of their last 14.

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After beating New York 4-3 on Saturday, the Red Sox have defeated the Yankees four straight times. The Red Sox have won seven of their past nine games overall to get back to .500, the first time since a win against Baltimore on May 24 put Boston at 27-27.

Former Yankees catcher gone from the Bronx, Carlos Narvaez, has done damage for Boston in the first two games of the series. He singled in the winning run in the 10th inning Friday.

On Saturday, he doubled and singled off starter Carlos Rodon, walked and scored a run. He also squashed a Yankees threat in the seventh when he threw out Jasson Dominguez at third base after he’d been picked off and was headed to third.

“This is big time, these games against the Yankees,” Narvaez said Saturday. “They are my former team, but I am just trying to do my job. (Carlos) Rodon is a great pitcher, and he is having a great year, so I just tried to put the ball in play.”

In the veteran’s five games against the Yankees, he is 8-for-21 (.381) with one home run and seven RBIs. That includes 2-for-4 with two doubles, a run and an RBI on Saturday.

“It’s a step in the right direction,” Story said of Boston moving back to .500. “We kind of dug ourselves a little hole early on. This is a point that we have to get to to get to where we want to be. So yeah, we feel good right now, looking to ride this momentum and keep pitching well and keeping hitting well, and we can win a lot of games that way.”

The Red Sox also have caught Yankees star Aaron Judge in a bit of a lull. His solo home run on Friday is his only hit of the series, and he’s 1-for-8 with six strikeouts.

The Yankees will send Max Fried (9-1, 1.84 ERA) to the mound Sunday. The former Atlanta Braves left-hander, who signed an eight-year, $218 million contract with the Yankees in the offseason, has struck out 81 and walked only 18 in 88 innings over 14 starts. He has allowed six home runs.

Fried has allowed two runs or less in all but one of his starts this season, but he gives the Yankees’ offense a lot of credit for his hot start.

“We have an extremely explosive offense, and when they put up 10 runs, it makes my job easier,” Fried said Tuesday after a 10-2 win over the Kansas City Royals in most recent start. “You just go a little bit more on the attack, you don’t want to give them free passes, and you try to avoid the big inning.”

Fried is 2-0 lifetime against the Red Sox with a 3.00 ERA. He has not faced Boston this season.

Boston will counter with Brayan Bello (2-1, 3.96), who lacks Fried’s strong strikeout-to-walk ratio. The Red Sox right-hander has struck out 37 and walked 25 in 52 1/3 innings in 10 starts.

Bello is 3-3 in eight career starts against the Yankees with a 2.54 ERA. He has not faced them this season.

–Field Level Media

Bring Back the Beards

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TAMPA – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Where’s Johnny Damon when you need him?

Why?

It’s “Bring back the beards to the Bronx” year for the New York Yankees.

Yankees managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner declared “well groomed beards” would be permitted in declaring an end to the franchise’s longstanding policy that allowed mustaches but not beards or unruly sideburns.

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“In recent weeks I have spoken to a large number of former and current Yankees – spanning several eras – to elicit their perspectives on our longstanding facial hair and grooming policy, and I appreciate their earnest and varied feedback,” Steinbrenner said Friday morning in a statement. “These most recent conversations are an extension of ongoing internal dialogue that dates back several years. Ultimately the final decision rests with me, and after great consideration, we will be amending our expectations to allow our players and uniformed personnel to have well-groomed beards moving forward. It is the appropriate time to move beyond the familiar comfort of our former policy.”

The policy on player appearance includes the length of their mane — stating “hair cannot touch the uniform collar” — and came about in 1976. When George Steinbrenner died in 2010, his daughter and Yankees managing partner, Jennifer, insisted the team’s rule not be changed.

A generational shift that came too late for infamously shaggy stars such as Damon and Randy Johnson takes effect immediately.

Ironic timing or part of a plan as Steinbrenner claimed, there is at least one current Yankees player who appreciates the razor relief. New closer Devin Williams reported to Tampa with the goatee look he’s had for several years. When the topic of the facial hair policy came up, Williams was coy and said only “we’ll see” when pressed on his plans for altering his appearance.

–Field Level Media