The Yankees figuratively and literally and physically crushed the Red Sox 13-2 on this hot sunny Sunday — the last game before the All Star break. What a way to end the first half — their second straight blowout of the Bosox having won the prior game 14-1.
They sent Chris Sale to the showers in the bottom of the 1st — scoring 2 runs against him and then unfortunately Aaron Hicks RIPPED a line drive right back at Sale and broke his pinky finger on this left throwing hand while he was trying to field it, scoring another run to make it 3-0.
Sale left the field holding up his left hand with grotesque broken finger bent out of shape.
The Yankees gave no quarter — continuing their pummeling of the Boston bullpen, highlighted by an 8-run 4th inning.
Meanwhile Gerrit Cole shut down the Red Sox, sans a 2-run homer by Boston voodoo-man Jeter Downs.
If MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred had instituted a Mercy Rule, it would have been invoked in this game.
“We just got a lot of tough guys, man,” said Matt Carpenter afterwards. “We’ve got a locker room full of guys who want to compete, and go out and execute what they want to execute. That was a big statement — heading into the break, we needed those two wins. Gerrit came out today and threw amazing; set the tone for us, and the offense showed up.”
NY ends the break at 64-28 — 13 games ahead of Tampa, 14.5 ahead of Toronto, and 16.5 ahead of Boston. The 13 game lead is the biggest lead of any team at the All Star break since division play began in 1969.
1. Yanks Crush Sale
Before the game, Yankee fans — coming off the 14-1 prior-game victory, were saying the Yanks needed to finish the 1st half by crushing Chris Sale. They were not thinking of physically crushing him. But that’s what the Yanks did when Aaron Hicks hit the line drive to break his pinky finger.
Aaron Hicks smokes a line drive off Chris Sale's pinky to score another run. Sale appears to have broken his finger and he exits the game pic.twitter.com/FNDsWNVzBc
— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) July 17, 2022
The line shot ended up being a single for Hicks — driving in the 3rd run of the inning. The Yanks had already scored 2 runs:
- DJ LeMahieu led off with a double,
- Aaron Judge was hit by a pitch,
- Anthony Rizzo moved them to 2nd and 3rd with a groundout,
- Gleyber Torres hit a grounder that Rafael Devers fielded and threw home on to try and catch LeMahieu at the plate, but threw it away, scoring a run,
- Gleyber Torres grounded out to score a run, and then
- the Hicks single making it 3-0 NY.
2. Cole Dominant
Gerrit Cole dominated the Red Sox throughout, sans a 2-run homer to Jeter Downs in the 3rd inning to make it 3-2. The homerun by Jeter Downs was not unexpected; he has power — 16 HR’s in 235 At Bats in AAA this year. It was his .217 average that has been off putting and lowered his once sky-high expectations.
Cole endured a 45-minute delay while the Yankees were scoring 8 runs in the 4th inning. And then went out and retired the Red Sox 1-2-3 in the 5th.
He mowed them down all afternoon — finishing with an impressive slash line: 7 innings, 4 hits, 2 runs, 12 strikeouts, 0 walks. He improved his record to 9-2 3.02 at the half.
Gerrit Greatness 🔥 pic.twitter.com/els3CyurwL
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 17, 2022
3. And then Came the 4th Inning
And then came the 4th inning — NY up 3-2.
Tim Locastro led off with a single off reliever Ryan Brasier. LoCastro has recently rejoined the Yankees after an injury. He is from upstate NY and he had about 30 family in attendance.
Locastro stole 2nd base.
Kyle Higashioka hit a grounder to Xander Bogaerts at shortstop but Locastro, sprinting to 3rd — obstructed his view and caused him to delay in fielding the grounder. He threw in desperation to 3rd to try and catch Locastro but it was too late. 1st and 3rd nobody out. The beginning of the end for Boston.
- LeMahieu singled to right — NY 4 Boston 2
- Aaron Judge singled to left — NY 5 Boston 2
Our All-Star comes through 🤩 pic.twitter.com/r9gGNfRubN
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 17, 2022
Boston brought in Jake Diekman, who was one of the few Red Sox hurlers to pitch well the day before. The wrong move.
- Anthony Rizzo walked, loading the bases.
- After Gleyber Torres struck out, Matt Carpenter doubled in 2 runs — NY 7 Boston 2
Carp with a 2-run knock 👊 pic.twitter.com/CebtXhvy9Z
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 17, 2022
- Aaron Hicks singled to right — NY 8 Boston 2
- Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit a sac fly to left — NY 9 Boston 2
Tim Locastro came up again. And hit a 2-run, 410-foot homer to left center — NY 11 Boston 2.
Timmy Lo 🚀 pic.twitter.com/JaK2anuwCy
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 17, 2022
It was still the 4th inning.
Yankee trolls on Twitter were driven from the internet.
Make it stop.
— Jared Carrabis (@Jared_Carrabis) July 17, 2022
I’m going for a walk.
— Jared Carrabis (@Jared_Carrabis) July 17, 2022
4. Gallo Caps It Off
In the bottom of the 7th, Joey Gallo capped the rout off with a 2-run homer to right off Boston’s best reliever — John Schreiber, who came into the game with a scintillating 1.10 ERA in 33 innings, and 3 saves. He now has a 1.60 ERA.
Joey Jack 💪 pic.twitter.com/IUDtHH1r6P
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 17, 2022
The end of the 1st half of the season was complete.
The worst hitter in baseball hitting bombs off the best reliever in the division. Time to pack it up.
— Jared Carrabis (@Jared_Carrabis) July 17, 2022
Etcetera
Lucas Luetge and Jonathan Loaisiga pitched shutout innings to finish the game — they had been beaten up in a loss to the Reds late in the week so even they went to the All Star break on a good note.
The Boxscore
https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401355603
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