Michael King pitched well, allowing 1 run into the 5th inning, striking out 8, but Tanner Houck pitched better — 6 innings of shutout ball, and the Boston bullpen pitched a lot better than the Yankee pen in the 5-0 Boston win on a Thursday afternoon at Fenway.
The Yanks had several chances against Houck — a leadoff double by Gleyber Torres in both the 4th and the 6th, and 1st and 2nd nobody out in the 5th — but weren’t able to break through.
Greg Weissert allowed a solo homer to Ceddanne Rafaela in 2.1 innings of pitching, and Matt Bowman allowed a 2-run homer to Trevor Story in the 8th as Boston put the game away.
It was the 1st game of a day-night doubleheader, due to the rainout the evening before.
“I thought Houck threw the ball well, but still we should have punched a couple in, no doubt about it,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards. “He made some pitches when he had to, when he got into a bit of a jam there. A couple of leadoff doubles by Gleyber that we weren’t able to take advantage of.”
NY drops to 73-73; Boston improves to 74-72.
1. King Good
Michael King looked good again as a starter — he struck out 8 in 4.2 innings.
He allowed a run in the 2nd off consecutive 1-out singles by Rafael Devers and Justin Turner, and a 2-out single by top prospect Wilyer Abreu. But that was it. King was pulled with 2 outs in the 5th after striking out Rafael Devers for the 2nd out of the inning. The score was 1-0 Boston, but King was at 87 pitches — over his pitch limit.
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King afterwards said he argued with Boone to keep him
“I told Boonie regardless if I give up 15 or scoreless, I’m not going to go down without a fight,” said King. “He wouldn’t let me; I tried my best.”
Greg Weissert came in to retire Justin Turner.
2. Yanks Can’t Cash In Against Houck
The Yanks kept knocking on Tanner Houck’s door, but he made the pitches to get out of it.
Oswaldo Cabrera walked to lead off the 3rd, but never advanced as Houck got strikeout, ground out, fly out.
Gleyber Torres doubled to lead off the 4th, but Houck got strikeout, ground out, strike out.
Oswald Peraza singled to lead off the 5th, and Oswaldo Cabrera walkd to put 1st and 2nd nobody out, but Houck got strikeout, ground out, strikeout to end the inning.
Gleyber Torres doubled to lead off the 6th, and went to 3rd on a ground out, and after a walk by Anthony Volpe it was 1st and 3rd, 1 out in a 1-0 game.
But Jake Bauers hit a short grounder to the 1st baseman who threw home — and Gleyber stopped and tried to go back to 3rd — while the throw home was bad and Connor Wong dropped the ball — Gleyber hesitated to try to go home again then hesitated and went back to 3rd where he was a dead duck. Bad baserunning by Gleyber — he should have either sprinted home, or, once the 1st baseman threw home — sprinted back to 3rd.
3. Weissert Pretty Good
After getting the final out of the 5th, Greg Weissert pitched a shutout 6th and got the first 2 outs of the 7th before surrendering a solo homer to Rafaela — who wrapped it around the Pesky Pole for a 316-foot homer.
4. Story Gets to Bowman
Matt Bowman pitched the 8th — the score 2-0 Boston. He got the first 2 outs, but then allowed single, walk, and 3-run homer to center by Trevor Story and it was 5-0 Boston.
5. Boston Bullpen Shut Out Yanks
Former Yank Garret Whilock came in to pitch a 1-2-3 inning in the 7th and 8th, and by the 9th it was a 5-0 game when Chris Martin came in.
Martin allowed consecutive 2-out singles by the Oswald/Oswaldo combo — Peraza and Cabrera — but Everson Pereira grounded out fot the old ballgame.
The Boxscore
https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401598869
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