Well, they couldn’t stop them forever.
The Boston Red Sox went into Yankee Stadium last night and lost in a rainy affair against the New York Yankees. It marked the first American League team to reach the 10 000 win total, and it clinched a wild card spot for them. The Bronx Bombers are now three games ahead of the Houston Astros for hosting that single wildcard game that will determine who the Toronto Blue Jays or Kansas City Royals will play in the first round of the post-season.
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So, where does that leave the Red Sox?
The outing was not what Boston would have wanted, but there were some good points about the game that lead some people believing that the Red Sox are in a good place before the off-season starts.
Other than a home run from Carlos Beltran and a single by Brendan Ryan that scored John Ryan Murphy in the bottom of the second inning, Red Sox starting pitcher Rich Hill had a decent night.
Boston’s young star Mookie Betts earned his RBI of the season with a single off of Yankees starter C.C. Sabathia to score Deven Marrero in the top of the fifth inning.
Both Jean Machi and Heath Hembree gave up a run in the seventh and eighth innings to give the Yankees the 4-1 victory.
With the way that the Red Sox had been playing on offense lately, a three-run lead was not insurmountable. However, on this night, the Sox just couldn’t come back.
Game Notes:
- The Red Sox went 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. The Yankees went 1-for-8 and left six on base.
- Jackie Bradley Jr. was put in the 2-spot in the lineup but went 0-for-4. So did Xander Bogaerts and Rusney Castillo. The team earned seven total hits, four walks, and eight strikeouts.
- Allen Craig played the designated hitter role. He went 1-for-4. It was announced that David Ortiz would sit out the remainder of the season.
Grades:
He picked up his first loss of the season, but Hill’s overall performance gives much hope to a struggling Red Sox rotation. He threw 102 pitches, 67 for strikes, in six innings. He held the Yankees to two earned runs on four hits, three walks, and six strikeouts. Any starting pitcher who can keep a post-season bound team to only two runs is doing a pretty decent job. Now, if the run support was there, the outcome might have been different.
The job of the bullpen is to shut the door on the opposing team until your team’s bats wake up. Well, they both gave up a run in their respective innings, but they still kept the game close. They each only gave up two hits. Not terrible, but not great either.
Pretty much a win by default. The lineup was depleted of almost any stars. Betts went 2-for-4 with the only RBI of the game for the Red Sox. You can’t blame them too much, but they are also major league players who are fighting for a job next season. You’d like to see a bit better of a performance.
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