Stanton Does It Again! Massive Homer Carries Yanks. NY 6 Boston 3

Aaron Judge got 3 lives in the 8th and ripped a 2-RBI double to put the Yanks ahead 4-3, and Giancarlo Stanton followed with ANOTHER Massive, Majestic Homerun “To the Moon” and out of Fenway Park to give NY a 6-3 lead and carry the Yanks to the sweep of the 3-game series at Fenway.

“Just awesome games to be involved in here,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards.

NY leapfrogs Boston to gain the #1 Wild Card spot with 6 games to go. Although it will be difficult for the Yanks as they have the toughest schedule — playing 3 in Toronto and 3 in Tampa, while Boston plays 3 in Baltimore and 3 in Washington, and Toronto plays 3 in Baltimore after facing the Yanks.

1. Monty Held Fort

Jordan Montgomery started for the Yanks against the very tough Yankee-killer Eduardo Rodriguez. You knew going in Monty had to be on his game to match Rodriguez, and he held fort.

Monty was pitching a shutout to the 4th — helped by a terrific play down 3rd by DJ LeMahieu in the 3rd to rob Hunter Renfrow of a double.

“It Is High, It is Far.. It Is.. Caught at the Wall” — Sterling

But Rafael Devers and Xander Bogaerts led off the 4th with consecutive singles to put 1st and 3rd, nobody out. JD Martinez hit a HIGH FLY to right — that John Sterling went into a homerun call on — “It is High, it is Far, it is… Caught at the wall by Joey Gallo who throws it in and Devers is SAFE at the plate” — to give Boston a 1-0 lead.

But Monty limited it there — striking out Bobby Dalbec and getting a groundout to end the inning.

That was the only run he’d give up. He allowed a leadoff single in the 5th, but got a double play started by a nifty play by DJ LeMahieu — then allowed 2 more singles, but got out of the inning on a flyout to Deep right by Devers — caught by Aaron Judge at the warning track. PHEW.

Monty ended with 5 innings, 7 hits — but no walks — and 4 K’s in 71 pitches. It wasn’t his best performance, but he did his job.

2. Clutch DJ Hit Puts Yanks On Top

Meanwhile Eduardo Rodriguez was tough as usual. He allowed a hit here and there but was striking out a lot of guys — struck out the side in the 3rd.

The Yanks got to him in the 5th — Gleyber Torres led off with a walk, Gary Sanchez singled, and then Brett Gardner singled to put bases loaded, nobody out.

The Yanks got a run when Gio Urshela grounded into a double play, making it 1-1.

With 2 outs, DJ LeMahieu got a CLUTCH single to right field to put the Yanks on top 2-1.

3. Holmes Filthy

Clay Holmes pitched the 6th and was absolutely filthy. He struck out the side on 11 pitches — Bogaerts, JD Martinez, and Bobby Dalbec — with a 98-MPH sinker and an 89-MPH slider. Suzyn Waldman was commenting on the radio how Holmes felt his velocity had notched up since joining the Yanks after making a slight adjustment to his delivery. (Another compliment to Yankee pitching coach Matt Blake.)

4. Boone Brings In Rodriguez

But Aaron Boone confused everyone by taking Holmes out to start the bottom of the 7th. Holmes took the mound to start the inning, and as soon as Bosox manager Alex Cora announced that the lefty hitting Travis Shaw was pinch hitting for Christian Arroyo, Boone brought in lefty Joely Rodriguez to face Shaw.

Cora turned around and had Jose Iglesias pinch hit for Shaw. And Iglesias promptly led off with a single.

Yankee Twitter went ballistic at the move. Holmes was lights out and given the important nature of the game, it seemed Boone had done it again — outsmarted himself in being ‘cute’.

The argument was that Holmes was lights out — and you’d rather have him pitching to any left-handed hitter than have Rodriguez pitch.

Alex Verdugo then reached on a bunt single. To top it off Rodriguez then threw a wild pitch and it was 2nd and 3rd nobody out. And the new rule in baseball that says a reliever must face a minimum of 3 batters meant Rodriguez had to stay out there.

Christian Vazquez then hit a sac fly to tie it 2-2 and Rodriguez was gone, replaced by Chad Green.

5. Yanks Can’t Catch Pop Ups

Chad Green struck out Enrique Hernandez and then got Kyle Schwarber to pop up in foul territory by the stands at 3rd for the final out.

Except the ball tailed back towards the field and DJ LeMahieu dropped it in foul territory. Gold Glover DJ LeMahieu — who had made 2 terrific defensive plays earlier in the game.

Given 2nd life, Schwarber hit another popup into shallow left field — Joey Gallo came in to make the easy catch — but the ball started veering toward center and Gallo dropped it. It tipped off his glove. Gold Glover Joey Gallo.

The run scored from 2nd and Boston took a 3-2 lead. Luckily Schwarber tried to get to 2nd on the play and was thrown out to end the inning.

You can imagine Yankee Twitter at this point.

6. Judge 3 Lives

But the Yankees came right back — Gio Urshela led off the top of the 8th with a walk against Garrett Richards. Tyler Wade ran for him, but was thrown out trying to steal 2nd — the second straight game Wade had been thrown out (after stealing 2nd and 3rd Friday night).

DJ LeMahieu then walked, and Anthony Rizzo doubled to right to put 2nd and 3rd, 1 out — Yanks trailing 3-2 — and the game on the line.

Adam Ottavino came in.

Aaron Judge stepped up.

Judge popped the ball foul to 1st but Schwarber was hesitant as he approached the stands, reached out for the ball but missed it — it dropped harmlessly giving Judge a 2nd life!

The count was 1-2 and Judge fouled off 3 straight pitches. Then a swing and a miss for strike 3 — but the catcher Vazquez dropped the ball!

The replay showed he didn’t — Vazquez dropped it while taking it out of his mitt to throw it back to the pitcher! Umpire Joe West called it a drop — his view was blocked by the catcher — and the play was not reviewable. So Judge got a 3rd life.

And Aaron Judge on the next pitch Ripped a 2-out, bases clearing double to right center giving NY a 4-3 lead!

“I felt like a cat, I felt like I had 9 lives up there,” said Aaron Judge afterwards.

“It was just a great battling at bat,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards. “Obviously Otto can be so tough on righthanded hitters, we know that. And I thought he executed a lot of pitches against him, and he was able to survive long enough to finally get one that he was on time for and stuck it.”

7. Stanton ROCKET

And the next batter was Giancarlo Stanton, who took a strike looking and then got a 2nd straight 81-MPH slider from Ottavino — and hit a MISSILE Majestically into Orbit and out of Fenway Park for a 6-3 Yankee lead.

“In a way, he’s come up big all year,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards. “Obviously he’s locked in right now and playing so well and he’s so focused — so I’m happy for him, and proud of him, and love the fact that he’s in such a good place.”

8. Green & Chapman Close It

And so it was on to the bottom of the 8th and Chad Green on the hill. Green allowed a leadoff double to Devers, got a flyout, then a single to JD Martinez to put 1st and 3rd, 1 out.

But Green struck out Dalbec and got Iglesias to line out — escaping the inning.

Aroldis Chapman got the 1st two outs of the 9th — a popout and groundout — but walked Enrique Hernande — who promptly stole 2nd and 3rd on fielder indifference.

All of Yankee Twitter were watching and waiting and had fingers crossed as Chapman struck out Schwarber for the old ballgame.

Etcetera

  • Aaron Judge dislocated his pinky finger sliding into 2nd on his double in the 8th — but popped it back into its socket and said he’d be fine. “I was trying to get in scoring position for Big G behind me,” said Judge afterwards. “Biggest mistake was not going feet first. Kicking myself for that. I don’t really need it to hit so I think we’ll be in good shape.”

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401229384

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