Following three consecutive demoralizing losses to the archrival Red Sox, the Yankees needed to at least get one back tonight. Thanks to a pair of multi-homer nights from a few heroic lefties, they were able to break out of this rivalry rut. Trent Grisham and Jazz Chisholm Jr. each left the yard twice and drove in all but one of the Yankee runs in a 7-2 sanity-restoring victory. The Bombers snapped eight consecutive losses against Boston and pulled back within a game in the Wild Card hunt.
The Red
Sox had scored first in each of the first three games of the series, and of course won all of them. So the Bombers had to snatch the initiative in this one, and they did so in the second inning. Chisholm came up following a leadoff single from Giancarlo Stanton and hit a skyscraping fly ball out to right. Dustin May seemed to know it was gone on contact as he hunched over on the mound. It indeed carried over the right-field wall for Jazz’s 23rd home run of the season—and the 100th of his MLB career—to stake the Yanks to an early 2-0 lead.
Rodón had his groundball stuff working tonight: 8 of the first 12 outs were recorded on worm-burners. He navigated some traffic in the first and sent the Sox down in order in the second. Then in the third he appeared to land awkwardly on the mound after throwing a pitch, ball four to ninth-place hitter Jhostynxon Garcia. He even limped on his plant foot a few times, causing Yankees fans everywhere to draw in their breath. Thankfully he recovered to induce a double play and grab the final out soon after.
The Bombers jumped on the homer-prone May again in the third courtesy of Grisham. The Yankee center fielder led off the inning by mashing a center-cut sinker 406 feet to right field, grazing the side of the second deck. It was Grisham’s 24th, and May’s 19th home run allowed.
The Yankee offense keep chipping away at the erstwhile Dodger, growing the lead a tally at a time. A 117.8-mph double from Stanton led off the fourth, and a sac fly to center from tonight’s starting shortstop, José Caballero, brought him home to make it 4-0. Then in the fifth, Grisham double-dipped. May kept tossing pitches over the heart of the plate, and Trent socked another leadoff jack to a very similar spot in right.
The Yankee offense got the leadoff man to reach base all five times against Dustin May, and four times they brought said leadoff man home. Of course Grisham, who looked like Kyle Schwarber against him, led off the inning each time he came up. The metronome kept ticking: 5-0 after five.
A lot of attention has rightfully been paid to Rodón’s two-seam and four-seam fastballs as well as his slider, but the changeup has been an unsung hero for him as well. The change repeatedly got on top of Red Sox bats tonight and was a huge factor in keeping them grounded. Eight of the 12 outs he got via grounders came courtesy of that changeup.
Rodón’s command waned in the sixth inning when he faced the top of the Sox’ order a third time. Boston put together a succession of tough at bats to force him to throw 37 pitches in the frame. He walked a pair but got to two outs before engaging in a brutal battle with Trevor Story. He left the payoff pitch slightly off the plate and didn’t get the call. After walking the bases loaded, Aaron Boone lifted Rodón an out shy of his third straight quality start.
Luke Weaver entered and faced the suddenly resurgent Nathaniel Lowe, who has peppered the Yankees with hits all series long. Lowe struck again with a bloop single to score a pair and put Boston on the board. Suddenly Jarren Duran stood at the plate representing the tying run. But Weaver froze Duran with a fastball on the outside corner to extinguish the rally.
Things settled down on both sides following that Boston threat. The Yankees went down in order for the first time in the sixth, then stranded a walk in the seventh. Weaver struck out a pair of Sox in a scoreless seventh, then Devin Williams did the same in the eighth to notch another scoreless inning—he has 7.1 consecutive scoreless going all of a sudden. That set the table for the Bombers to land the knockout blow.
Jazz didn’t want to be outdone by fellow lefty Grisham, so with a man on in the eighth he too doubled his homer total on the night with a low liner off Walker Buehler which crept over the wall. That gave the Bombers plenty of breathing room, leading 7-2 with three more outs to get. His homer total only stayed at the century mark for a few frames. Onward and upward!
The Red Sox had a rumblings of a rally in the ninth when they got two men in scoring position, but Camilo Doval buckled down to strand them and secure the win. At last, the pinstriped partisans could sing ‘New York, New York’ in the stands in the Bronx. The Yankees still trail Boston in the Wild Card hunt, but avoided the worst-case scenario.
We’ll be all happy to see the Red Sox go until their final matchup in September, which still promises to be important with such little separation in the postseason race. For now, they’ll greet a cellar-dweller, the Washington Nationals, tomorrow evening (currently managed by Yankees alum Miguel Cairo). It’ll be a pair of rookie righties in the first game: Cam Schlittler against Brad Lord. First pitch is set for 7:05 PM on YES.
