Fueled by another strong start from Rick Porcello, the Red Sox beat the Yankees to win the first rivalry series of the year.
Rick Porcello has arguably been one of the best pitchers of the Red Sox rotation. Ending last season on a high note with a 3.14 ERA on his last eight starts, Porcello has kept pitching as the Red Sox expected when they signed him to a four-year $82.5 million. It might be because he has David Price as a mentor again or Christian Vazquez behind the plate, but Porcello tonight showed that there’s no longer reason to worry about him.
The right-hander had held the Yankees scoreless in seven innings while giving up only five hits. Going back to August 26th, year, Porcello has a 3.00 ERA in 13 starts pitching never pitching less than five innings and only allowing more than three runs in just two games.
Brian McCann and Starling Castro hit back-to-back doubles in the top half of the 2nd and threatened to score, but Didi Gregorius grounded out to end the inning. It was the first of three times that the Yankees had a runner in scoring position.
The Red Sox offense attacked early on the second inning with Jackie Bradley Jr. and Mookie Betts hitting back-to-back doubles to give the Red Sox a 2-0 lead. Yankees starter Michael Pineda was replaced by Chase Shreve to start the sixth inning and he gave up a double to Bradley Jr, who eventually scored after Betts singled to extend the Red Sox lead to 4-0.
One run would have been more than enough for Porcello to win the game, but the Red Sox offense exploded in the seventh putting up another four runs on the board. After David Ortiz started the inning with a home run, Hanley Ramirez and Travis Shaw got on base thanks to a walk and a single respectively. Brock Holt channeled his inner Bill Mueller by hitting a long fly ball to the Pesky Pole, but it didn’t go in. However, he scored Hanley on an error from Castro.
Rising Apple
Bradley Jr. hit his second triple of the game after Christian Vazquez struck out, allowing Shaw and Holt to score. Robbie Ros Jr. replaced Porcello to pitch a scoreless eighth and Junichi Tazawa ended the game with a 1-2-3 inning.
Games notes:
- Porcello had three 1-2-3 innings.
- Bradley Jr. raised his batting average to .272
- Porcello lowered his ERA to 2.72
- The Red Sox righty is now tied with Jake Arrieta, Chris Sale and Jordan Zimmerman as the pitchers with most wins (5) in the Major Leagues.
- The last time the Red Sox shutout the Yankees while scoring eight or more runs was in 2003.
- Bradley Jr. has ten hits in his last six games, with seven have gone for extra bases.
It seems that the Red Sox finally have their number 2 starter in Porcello, who is pitching as he’s been paid. He might not be an power pitcher who’s going to struck out at least six batters, but he will give you six or seven innings or work without allowing more than three runs and that’s exactly what the Red Sox need to keep the ball rolling.
Entering the game, Bradley Jr. had a .244 batting average. He left with .272. One of the most impressive things about this Red Sox is that no one looks like an easy out even if they are hitting well below .250 and Bradley Jr. was the perfect example of that.