Donaldson Grand Slam, Hicks & Yank Bullpen Win the Day. NY 6 Boston 5

July 8, 2022 paperbacklou 2022 0

Josh Donaldson hit a Grand Slam in the 3rd inning, followed by an Aaron Hicks homer — and the Yankee bullpen of Wandy Peralta, Michael King, and Clay Holmes shut down Boston’s attempt to come back from a 5-0 deficit against Gerrit Cole in the 6-5 Yankee win at Fenway.

Both Donaldson and Hicks have been ripped on Yankee Twitter all season but they both had their redemption this night at Fenway.

And Jose Trevino — who has been a fan favorite – got a big RBI double in the 6th for an insurance run that actually became the game winner.

On a beautiful July Thursday night in Boston. NY is now 14.5 ahead of Tampa, 15 ahead of the Red Sox, and 15.5 ahead of Toronto. And all those teams are well over .500 in the best division in baseball.

1. Cole Undone By Devers But Gets Win

Staked to the big lead, Gerrit Cole allowed two homeruns to Rafael Devers — a 2-run shot in the bottom of the 3rd and a 3-run bomb in the 5th — for all of Boston’s runs. Other than that he pitched well to get the win.

“Everything was pretty good,” said Cole afterwards. “We were living on the corners all night.” About Devers, Cole said, “I’m open to suggestions.”

Cole’s final line: 6 innings, 5 hits, 5 earned runs, 7 K’s, 3 BB’s. He wins to go 8-2 3.26.

2. Donaldson & Hicks Back-to-Back Bombs

The Red Sox started Josh Winckowski, a 24-year-old, 6’4 right-handed rookie who came in with a 3-2 record.

Joey Gallo walked to lead off the 3rd — yet another game and inning where a Joey Gallo leadoff walk led to a big Yankee inning — it happened twice the night before against Pittsburgh.

Gleyber Torres got a one-out single and stole 2nd. With 2 outs Giancarlo Stanton walked to bring up Josh Donaldson — who hit a Bomb to center for a Grand Slam.

Aaron Hicks hit the very next pitch thrown for a homerun to right for a 5-0 lead. Hicks’ power is back (he hit a homer last night as well).

Cole gave 2 runs back right away on the first homer by Devers but Hicks was back at it again in the 5th — a 2-out triple — followed by a Jose Trevino RBI single for a 6-2 lead — an important 6th run.

3. Wandy Terrific

Cole gave up the 3-run bomb to Devers in the bottom of the 5th — and so the Yanks navigated into the late innings clinging to a 6-5 lead. At Fenway.

But the Yankee bullpen was up to the challenge. Wandy Peralta pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 7th — strikeout, flyout, strikeout. Peralta also got the 1st batter out in the 8th.

Rob Friedman the Pitching Ninja highlighted how Wandy uses change of delivery speed to mess with the timing of batters.

4. King Terrific

Michael King got the last 2 outs of the 8th (sandwiching a walk).

5. Holmes Filthy

And Clay Holmes pitched a 1-2-3, agita-less 9th inning for the save. Yankee Twitter could not have been more happy.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401355470

 

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