There is nothing like the drama of postseason baseball. Nothing!
The evening started classic pitcher’s duel, gave way to an improbable Red Sox rally in the seventh, and closed with a white knuckle bottom of the ninth that had everybody along the I-95 corridor from New Jersey to Maine ready to hurl. The calendar may still read September 30th, but this was classic October baseball.
Let’s start with the end in mind: Aroldis Chapman entered the game on the back of 67 relief appearances for the Red Sox
this season. In those appearances, he held opponents to one hit or less 63 times, and only allowed two hits the other four times. But when he came out to close the bottom of the ninth tonight (after also getting the last out of the eighth), he allowed three hits before getting an out. And yet, somehow, he still got out of it!
Again, nothing beats the drama of postseason baseball. Nothing!
Here’s the final pitch:
But before Chapman’s game of chicken with calamity, there was Crochet’s crusade, in which the skyscraping southpaw went 7.2 innings deep, allowed just one run on the back of 11 strike outs, and didn’t walk a soul. He did exactly what the Sox acquired him to do!
The drama was only heightened by it coming against the backdrop of what happened in a 24 hours period nine and a half months earlier. On the evening of December 10th, 2024, the Yankees landed Max Fried in free agency by going to an eighth year on the contract. The Sox were in, but got outbid.
Less than 24 hours later, this happened:
Those moves set the table for tonight, and I want to take a step back for a moment and appreciate how rare it is for something like this to play out. First, the pivot to Crochet had to happen (the Red Sox also traded for Carlos Narvaez from the Yankees on December 11th because they knew they were about to part ways with Kyle Teel to get Crochet), then both guys had to deliver all season and become their team’s best pitcher without landing on the shelf, and then, the two teams had to get matched up against each other right out of the gate to start the postseason. But it all did happen, and it gave us a perfect duel and added yet another chapter to the best rivalry in all of sports!
What perhaps made it even better is that Crochet trailed for much of this game. The Yankees drew first blood on this Anthony Volpe home run, and Crochet had to pitch pretty much all of the middle frames with no margin for error.
With each passing inning, the tension grew as the Sox struggled to crack Max Fried. There were chances, but before the seventh inning, they all slipped away.
But as soon as Fried left the game, the flood gates opened. Unlike Crochet, who Alex Cora allowed to go a season high 117 pitches deep, Fried was pulled by Aaron Boone 102 pitches in with one out in the seventh and nobody on base. Yankee fans were not pleased:
Luke Weaver came into the game to face three batters and didn’t get any of them out. First, Ceddanne Rafaela worked what was probably the greatest walk of his career on 11 pitches. Then, Nick Sogard moved him to third on a hustle double.
And finally, Masataka Yoshida, who has a knack for coming through in situational at bats despite all of his struggles, drove both guys in to give the Sox a lead they would never relinquish.
Alex Bregman would also add an insurance run in the top of the ninth, and while the Sox didn’t officially need it, this was a big knock given the way the bottom of the inning played out.
Are you noticing a theme here? Crochet, Chapman, Yoshida, and Bregman? All guys you had to pay the freight for in either dollars or prospect capital to get on the roster. For at least one night, the investments made into the team paid off, and it happened with a starting lineup of bargain bin platoon guys getting the first shot to produce. But instead, it was Crochet and Chapman pitching all the innings, and Yoshida and Chapman getting all the RBI.
Three Studs
Garrett Crochet: For doing exactly what he was acquired to do!
Nick Sogard: 2-4 out of the nine slot including the hustle double that set the table for …
Masataka Yoshida: He’s had a brutal year, but that pinch hit single in the seventh was like a Sour Patch Kid turning sweet.
Honorable Mention, Ceddanne Rafaela: He may have gone hitless, but for a guy who normally wants to swing at a paper airplane if it comes flying out of the stands, that 11 pitch walk was one of the greatest plate appearances of his career. It set the table for everything that happen over the following few minutes.
Three Duds
Jarren Duran: 0-4 with a brutal strike out in the fourth inning that could have been extremely costly.
Romy Gonzalez: He’s being given the opportunity to hit in the cleanup spot in a postseason game because he generally hits left handed pitching, and tonight he didn’t do that going 0-3 with a strike out.
Rob Refsnyder: He’s being given the opportunity to hit leadoff in a postseason game because he generally hits left handed pitching, and tonight he didn’t do that tonight going hitless with a walk.
Play of the game:
The player of the game is Crochet for his brilliant outing, but the play of the game was the Masataka Yoshida’s hit that proved to be the turning point on the scoreboard. So nice, we’re gonna see it twice:
With just one more win, the Sox trip to Toronto! Tune in tomorrow at the same time (6:08pm) and same place (ESPN) as Brayan Bello takes on Carlos Rodon.
