The Red Sox got a 3-run homer by Rafael Devers off Michael King in the top of the 1st and that was all they needed in the 5-2 victory on a Friday night at Yankee Stadium.
Tampa lost so the Yanks remain 4.5 out with a record of 31-27; and now 3.5 behind 2nd place Boston. NY is 3-7 in their last 10; 2-2 in their last 4; seemingly stuck in mud.
1. King Pitched Well
The best development to come out of the night was that Michael King pitched well — he settled down after the horrid 1st inning and the 3-run homer to Devers after 2 were out.
King in fact set records for settling down.
In the 4th inning, King struck out Hunter Renfroe, Marwin Gonzalez, and Christian Vazquez on 9 pitches — tying the record for striking out the side on least pitches, becoming the 95th pitcher in history to do so.
History in the top of the fourth! Michael King registers the seventh Immaculate Inning in franchise history! #YANKSonYES
Watch on YES and stream it LIVE with the YES app: https://t.co/0cgHA97Iau pic.twitter.com/wwnKiUWAf7
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) June 5, 2021
Other Yankees to do it have been:
- Al Downing (vs. Indians, Aug. 11, 1967),
- Ron Guidry (White Sox, Aug. 7, 1984),
- A.J. Burnett (Marlins, June 20, 2009),
- Ivan Nova (Mets, May 29, 2013),
- Brandon McCarthy (Rays, Sept. 17, 2004) and
- Dellin Betances (Tigers, Aug. 2, 2017).
In the 5th, King retired the side on 4 pitches — almost a perfect inning the other way. It was the 2nd time King has retired the side on 4 pitches this season. He got Christian Arroyo on a one-pitch groundout, threw a ball to Danny Santana then got him to line out to left, and got Alex Verdugo on an easy one-pitch groundout back to him on the pitchers mound.
King was one shutout inning away from a “quality start” (6 innings, 3 runs or less) when he got the first out of the 6th, but then allowed a single to Xander Bogaerts and was lifted.
Lucas Luetge came in and allowed a single and double for 2 runs to make it 5-0 Boston. So King finished with 5.1 innings, 6 hits, 4 runs. The best 4-run start you’ll see — promising for the Yankee future.
2. Double Play Kills Yank Rally in 1st
The Yanks almost got back into the game in the bottom of the 1st against Sox starter and former Yankee Nathan Eovaldi.
DJ LeMahieu singled and Giancarlo Stanton reached on an infield single to put 1st and 2nd nobody out, NY down 3-0. But Aaron Judge hit into a double play and Gio Urshela lined out to center and that was that.
3. Judge Homers; Yanks Get Back In It
In the 6th, DJ LeMahieu singled but Giancarlo Stanton hit into a double play. And the boos rained down at Yankee Stadium.
Aaron Judge then hit a line shot homer to the opposite field, into the short porch in right to make it 5-1.
And the Yankees are on the board! Aaron Judge with a laser! #YANKSonYES
Watch on YES and stream it LIVE with the YES app: https://t.co/0cgHA97Iau pic.twitter.com/IMDDbAEl4f
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) June 5, 2021
The Yanks then rallied for another run — Gio Urshela singled, Gleyber Torres singled and Urshela scored on an error by Gonzalez at 1st.
But Clint Frazier hit a fly ball for the final out. The double play had stunted the whole inning.
4. Boston Bullpen Shuts Yanks Down
Hirokazu Sawamura came in throwing filthy stuff low in the strike zone that broke lower at the last minute. He struck out 5 in 2 innings. Matt Barnes came in with his knuckle curve and struck out all 3 Yanks in the 9th and that was that.
Etcetera
Nestor Cortes Jr.pitched 2 shutout innings in relief so that was nice to see.
The Yankees got 8 hits; LeMahieu (.259), Judge (.294), and Torres (.267) got 2 hits each; Stanton (.260) and Urshela (.261)got 1 hit each.
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