Today the New York Yankees entered a three-game set with the Boston Red Sox, starting with a day-night doubleheader. The Yankees won the day game 5-3 in an exciting ninth inning. This could be a pivotal series with the Yankees overtaking the Red Sox in the wild card standing if the Yankees can sweep the series.
Winning the first game was the first step to accomplish that. Tonight was game two of that series when the Yankee sensation prospect Luis Gil took on the veteran Red Sox pitcher Nathan Eovaldi. Eovaldi has faced the Yankees four times this season, winning 50% of those games. The Yankees shut out the Red Sox in game two.
In the first inning, Gil faced Kiki Hernandez, who flew out to Stanton in right field. Alex Verdugo walked. Xander Bogaerts flew out to Gardner in center. Rafael Devers flew out to Gallo in left. At the bottom, DJ LeMahieu led off with a single to center. Brett Gardner reached on a force out. Aaron Judge stuck out, but Gardner stole second. Joey Gallo flew out to center for a scoreless inning.
The second inning was lead off by JT Martinez went up the middle for a base hit. Kyle Schwarber walked. Kevin Palwecki, with two on and no outs, went down looking. Jerren Duran struck out swinging. Travis Shaw struck out swinging to end the half for Gil. At the bottom, Giancarlo Stanton struck out. Rougie Odor struck out. Luke Voit hit a homer to the right-field bench. Tyler Wade struck out, but the Yankees went ahead in the game. New York Yankees 1, the Red Sox 0.
Kiki Hernandez led off the third by popping out to Voit in right-field foul territory. Alex Verdugo walked. A passed ball allowed Verdugo to got to second. Bogaerts ground out, but Verdugo went to third. Devers flew out to Gardner to end the half. Kyle Higashioka led off the bottom by lining a single to left field. LeMahieu singled to right, with Higgy moving to second. Gardner popped out to short. Judge flew out to the warning track in center with Higgy going to third. Gallo went down swinging. Yankees 1 Red Sox 0.
At the fourth, Martinez flew out to Stanton in right-center. Schwarber hit a sky-high pop up to Odor. Palwecki popped out to Voit for a 1-2-3 inning for Gil. Stanton led off the bottom by homering well (441′) into the left-field stands. Odor doubled to left field. Voit with a man on second and no outs went down on strikes. Wade ground out to left. Higashioka walked. LeMahieu popped out to end the inning. Yankees 2 Red Sox 0.
Duran led off the fifth and singled to right. Shaw struck out. Hernandez singled on a ball that Wade missed. Duran went to third. Verdugo flew out to Gallo, not challenging Gallo’s arm; Duran stayed at third. Bogaerts walked, loading the bases ending the night for Gil. Wandy Peralta came in to face Devers, who ground to second for the final out and left the bases loaded with Red Sox. At the bottom, Gardner ground out to second. Judge singled to right. Judge stole second standing. Gallo went down on strikes. Stanton flew out to center to end the inning. Yankees 2 Red Sox 0.
JT Martinez led off the sixth inning by flying out to Stanton in right. Schwarber singled. Palwecki hit into a force out. Hunter Renfroe pinch-hitting for Duran singled to left center, Gardner’s throw kept Schwarber from scoring. Bobby Dalbec pinch-hit Shaw and lined back to Peralta; the ball was knocked down, but Peralta bare-handed it to first for the final out. At the bottom, Odor against the new pitcher, Martin Perez, ground out to right. Voit went down looking. Wade singled, knocking Perez out of the game. Higashioka faced the new Sox pitcher Sawamura and flew out to right. New York Yankees 2 Red Sox 0.
At the top of the ninth inning, Chad Green came into the game to close it out for the Yankees. Hernandez flew out to LeMahieu in foul territory. Verdugo struck out on 97 mph heat from Green. Bogaerts ground out to get the win for the Yankees and let them go ahead of the Sox in the wild card standings.
The final score was the New York Yankees 2 and the Boston Red Sox Zero. The winning pitcher was Wandy Peralta, the loser Nathan Eovaldi. The save went to Chad Green (5).