The Yankees and Red Sox have played two games this week, and they’ve played two near-classics. The first had Yankees fans replaying countless memories of close calls and blown leads, a late meltdown leaving
fresh scars in a 3-1 loss . The second flipped the narrative, the Yankees winning a few key battles late to squeak by. It was all an effort to set the stage for a pivotal Game 3 that for many must’ve felt inevitable.
That the Yankees survived to see a Game 3 tonight in the Bronx was in no small part thanks to execution on the margins. Of course, big swings like Ben Rice’s two-run shot in the first were essential as well, but the contest could’ve swung on any number of small moments, and I want to highlight just a few from late in the game, starting in the top of the seventh. Carlos Rodón came out of the dugout in a 3-3 ballgame and promptly issued a walk and hit-by-pitch, forcing Aaron Boone to go to his bullpen and tap Fernando Cruz to put out the season-threatening fire.
After a gift popup bunt from Ceddanne Rafaela and a fly out from Nick Sogard, Cruz was on the edge of escaping, but the pinch-hitting Masataka Yoshida, Boston’s hero from Game 1, rapped a grounder towards the middle that seemed destined to find the outfield grass. Jazz Chisholm Jr. made a stellar play, stabbing the ball to his right before firing desperately to first where Ben Rice tried to pick the throw in vain, the ball bouncing a few feet into foul ground:
It’s a minor miracle the Red Sox didn’t score on this play. Chisholm’s outstanding effort is the headline here, keeping the ball in the infield, but just as crucial is a lapse from Boston. The count was 3-2 on Yoshida, and having got a running start from second base, Nate Eaton was motoring around third as Chisholm fired to first. Had Eaton picked up the ball, he would’ve had a chance to score as the ball skipped away from Rice. Instead, Eaton kept his head down and stopped at third, the bases were loaded, and Cruz got the sizzling Trevor Story to fly out to deep center to end the inning.
An inning later, it was precise execution on the part of the Yankees that swung the game. Devin Williams faced Alex Bregman to lead off the inning, and on the eighth pitch of the at-bat, Bregman was able to time Williams’ changeup, ripping a line drive toward the left-field corner. Cody Bellinger was in a difficult spot, initially charging over to try and make the catch before pulling up and deftly snaring the ball on one hop, keeping the ball from heading to the corner and giving Bregman extra bases:
A less skilled fielder than Bellinger may have made an all-out try to dive for the ball and seen it skip past, or got caught in between and allowed the ball bounce by (it’s not hard to envision Jasson Domínguez, once the starting left fielder, doing either of those things!). Bellinger was able to field and fire in a smooth motion, holding Bregman to a single.
That small bit of craft on the part of Bellinger proved vital on the next play. Nathaniel Lowe bounced a grounder back to Williams, who fired to second to start a crucial 1-6-3 double play, made possible by Bregman’s station at first base. Williams’ throw was high, and Anthony Volpe did an excellent job to corral the throw, come down on the bag, and sling the throw to first:
This sequence wasn’t the first time the Yankees’ defense came up big in this game. They turned multiple double plays in support of Rodón (who for his part was pretty sharp, running out of gas a bit at the end), including this nifty bit of work from Chisholm and Volpe to double up a hustling Bregman:
It’s perhaps fitting that the Yankees’ defense, fairly maligned for its sloppiness midseason, was partially responsible for saving this season in a do-or-die situation. Both the Yankee defense and baserunning has been sharp in the latter stages of the year, and if the Yankees finish off this series and make a deep run, that reversal will be part of the story.
Those wins on the margins set the stage for Chisholm’s run for glory in the bottom of the eighth, that itself another example of the small edges the Yankees needed to utilize to win this game. Chisholm flying on a 3-2 count with two outs and narrowly beating Eaton’s accurate throw. The Yankees’ most effective path to victory is for the likes of Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and Rice to bash the opponent’s head in, but the fact they can still win even failing an offensive outburst should give us hope as we (if we?) move forward through October.
With one win in hand, the Yankees are in the driver’s seat heading into tonight’s winner-take-all Game 3. It’s an elimination game between the Yankees and Red Sox, so anything can happen. That being said, what should happen is a Yankee lineup that was finally grinding out strong at-bats at the end of Game 2 pushing around a weakened Boston staff.
See, not only is Boston’s No. 2 starter, Lucas Giolito, hurt, forcing rookie Connelly Early into duty, but Alex Cora went all-in in Game 2, reasoning that he needed to kill the Yankees before they could even get to Game 3. Cora pulled Brayan Bello with one down in the second, asking his bullpen to get 20 outs to secure a series victory. It was a bold ploy, one that could have worked out on the right day (and one that was eerily symmetric to a gambit pulled by Boone nearly six years ago).
On this day, Cora was burned, and he’ll send a slightly compromised staff to battle tonight, shifting the odds in New York’s favor. Cora used six pitchers in relief of Bello, including 47 pitches from relief ace Garrett Whitlock. That last figure is crucial; Whitlock, along with Aroldis Chapman, is one of the two truly scary relievers Cora has at his disposal. Whitlock will surely be available tonight in at least some minor capacity for the all-hands-on-deck sitution. But he just set his season high in pitches, and not once has he been asked to pitch on back-to-back days after throwing more than even 25 pitches. Cora’s hand is weaker now after shoving and losing.
The Yankees did use David Bednar, Devin Williams, and Cruz on back-to-back nights, so it’s not like Cora’s aggression has suddenly made the bullpen a clear area of advantage for the Yankees. But wearing out Whitlock and asking so much from the likes of Justin Wilson, Steven Matz, and Justin Slaten means the Yankees will play Game 3 on serve. Boston’s bullpen advantage is muted with Whitlock weary, while the starting matchup is something like a wash, between two rookies in Cam Schlittler and Early. If the pitching battle looks pretty square, well, the Yankees have the superior lineup and home-field. Game 3 is a game they should win, if they execute, as they did in Game 2.
With the season on the line, they are in the driver’s seat, or, as Boone is so fond of saying, it’s all right in front of them. All that’s left to do is win.
