Masataka Yoshida had a rough start to his sophomore season in the United States. It took weeks for the Nippon Professional Baseball veteran to heat up offensively, and a thumb strain kept him on the shelf for weeks through May and June.
But he's gotten hot just in time to become a Yankee killer. Even Yoshida's detractors must admit he reads Clay Holmes like a book.
The Boston Red Sox designated hitter took the plate in the eighth inning of a tie game against the Yankees at Fenway Park. With runners at second and third base, Yoshida drilled a Holmes sinker up the middle of the field. Wilyer Abreu and Connor Wong took off from their bags and claimed a 9-7 lead over New York.
The Yankees had some moments of their own in Boston's rare Friday victory. Aaron Judge lifted a 470-foot, three-run bomb to center field to give his squad a 6-4 lead in the seventh frame, and Austin Wells immediately followed with a solo shot.
Masataka Yoshida lifted Red Sox to victory against the Yankees again for rare Friday win at Fenway Park
CLUTCH MASA. pic.twitter.com/rNCpeOcWzg
— Red Sox (@RedSox) July 27, 2024
But the Sox quickly encroached on their lead. Yoshida walked and scored a run on Ceddanne Rafaela's seventh-inning blast that brought the Sox within one run. Before the DH's game-winning single, Abreu came off the bench to score Rob Refsnyder to tie the game and give Yoshida a golden chance to burn Holmes again.
Yoshida and Rafaela carried the Red Sox to, arguably, their biggest win of the season in the Bronx on July 5. An error and some defensive miscues gave New York some free runs in the early innings, but Yoshida's ninth-inning, two-out, two-strike homer against Holmes forced extra innings and put an exclamation point on the end of the DH's slump. Rafaela homered to straightaway center field in the 10th inning to finish the job, but it was Yoshida's blast that got him there.
After weeks of hard feelings at the beginning of the 2024 slate, Yoshida's clutch moments against the Yankees have Red Sox Nation embracing the international star. He's hit his stride at just the right time to lengthen Boston's lineup and help it push for a wild card spot, and maybe even second place in the American League East.