The Red Sox (34-23 overall, 18-10 away) didn't win a single game last season at Yankee Stadium in their wretched 2020, therefore tonight's 5-2 series-opening victory was Boston's first in the Bronx since 2019. The starting pitcher for the Sox-Nathan Eovaldi (7-2)-went six solid innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on eight hits with seven strikeouts and no walks. Boston's win put them 3.5 games ahead of New York for second-place in the AL East while Texas' (23-36) surprising 5-4 victory over the Rays (36-23) this evening left Tampa Bay only one game up on the Red Sox. Tampa is finally showing some signs of slowing down a bit (6-4 in their last 10 games) after being the hottest team in MLB for awhile.
As good as Eovaldi's outing was, the two relievers that followed him out of the Sox' bullpen were even better. Hirokazu Sawamura got his first taste of the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry and he must have loved it as he went two scoreless innings and struck out five without allowing a hit. Around the same time that UConn baseball opened its 2021 NCAA Tournament journey with a 6-1 win vs. Michigan, Huskies alum Matt Barnes did his now customary thing by striking out the side in a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his 13th save of the season. Sawamura threw 29 pitches therefore I doubt that he'd be available on Saturday but Barnes only had 17 pitches so I think that he could be ready in the right spot for tomorrow's game if he is needed.
BC's Michael King (0-3) got the start for the Yanks and while he went 5.1 innings which is more than they could have expected, he made one fatal mistake: Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers crushed a three-run bomb to the upper deck in right field in the first inning (his team-leading 15th HR of the season) that scored left fielder Alex Verdugo and shortstop Xander Bogaerts (2 singles, 2 runs). Boston opened up a 5-0 lead when first baseman Marwin Gonzalez (2 doubles) tacked on two more runs with a two-run double in the sixth down the left field line that scored right fielder Hunter Renfroe and Bogaerts. Both of New York's runs came in the home half of the sixth inning as right fielder Aaron Judge hit a Yankee Stadium special-an opposite field homer to right that just got over the fence. Luckily his team-leading 14th home run of the season was a solo shot so no big deal. The other Yankees run came when Gonzalez made two errors on the same play which is pretty hard for a big leaguer to do.
Tomorrow's game (7:15, FOX) starts at exactly the same time as Game 4 of Bruins-Islanders so I think I know what you'll be checking in on during commercials and intermissions from the hockey game or you can be a cool guy like me and have one of them on your laptop while the other is on your TV at the same time. As bad as the Yankees' offense has been this season, it could be a slugfest since Boston's former ace Eduardo Rodriguez (5-4, 5.64 ERA) takes on New York's Jameson Taillon (1-4, 5.10 ERA). Rodriguez has been a mess lately and arguably the Red Sox' worst starter in 2021 (as crazy as that sounds) while Taillon is a journeyman bum. This could serve as a good spot for Eddie to start to return to form or he could continue to struggle and give us more reasons to worry about him. Only time will tell as Boston tries to clinch the series already.
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