The Red Sox lost a rain shortened game to the New York Yankees
On a very eventful evening in the Bronx Saturday night, the New York Yankees secured their first victory over the rival Boston Red Sox in the 2021 season. After the Sox secured their seventh straight win over the Yanks on Friday, Saturday started slowly, as the first pitch was delayed by an hour even though there didn’t look to be too much rain in sight over Yankee Stadium until after the game had eventually started. The game was called after a second rain delay after six innings of the game were complete.
The Yankees got their first win over the Sox with a 3-1 scoreline. The visiting Sox took the lead in the second through a Christian Arroyo line drive to the left that scored Jarren Duran, who got his first MLB hit on a line drive to center off of one of the league’s top pitchers in Gerrit Cole.
For the Yankees, DJ LeMahieu produced an RBI, with both Gary Sanchez and Gleyber Torres homering off of Hirokazu Sawamura, as the righty only got through one-third of an inning after relieving Boston All-Star Nathan Eovaldi, who managed five innings, allowing two hits and an earned run, striking out seven Yankees.
The game itself was overshadowed by criticism of the delays – which you can completely understand when there was an hour period before the first pitch where the game could easily have been played, although the monsoon later in the night certainly didn’t help things.
Then the incident that occurred in the bottom of the sixth inning. Red Sox outfielder Alex Verdugo ran out to his spot in the Yankee Stadium outfield to get ready for the half-inning, and he tossed up a ball into the stands. Verdugo said that he was trying to throw this ball to a kid, but an older Yankees fan intercepted it and threw it back at him. The ball was thrown while Verdugo wasn’t looking in unacceptable fashion. Dugie had a lot to say on the matter, and I’m pretty sure everyone, Red Sox and Yankees fans alike, can agree on the matter.
I stand with Alex Verdugo pic.twitter.com/a0BdwYiRrb
— Steve Perrault (@Steve_Perrault) July 18, 2021
Between this and the weather delays, the game was never going to be an easy one to win. Cole had a big night as he pitched all six innings, striking out 11, as he helped his team get their first victory against the Sox this year as they climbed up to seven games back of Boston at the top of the AL East.
The Red Sox will pitch Martin Perez against Jameson Taillon on Sunday night, as they look for another series victory over the Evil Empire. Last Thursday’s postponed game will be made up when the Sox visit the Yankees again in mid-August, but the Yanks will visit Fenway for a four-game set first next week as we enter a pivotal time in the race for the division.