Holmes & Weaver Blow Save After Judge & Wells Dramatic HRs. Boston 9 NY 7

July 27, 2024 paperbacklou 2024 0

Aaron Judge hit a dramatic, Monsterous, 470-foot homer to the outer confines of Fenway Park’s centerfield in the 7th inning to give the Yankees a 6-4 lead, and Austin Wells followed with a homer to right for a 7-4 Yankee lead.

But Luke Weaver coughed up a 2-run homer in the bottom of the 7th, and got into more trouble in the 8th — trouble that Clay Holmes did not get him out of, as he coughed up 3 runs on his first 5 pitches to blow the save — and the Yanks went down in Flames again, 9-7 on a beautiful Friday night in Boston.

“Dr. Smith from Lost in Space put it perfect, ‘Oh the Pain’”, wrote Gregory on Twitter.

“It’s as if anything that can go wrong, will go wrong,” said Suzyn Waldman on the broadcast.

“Obviously Weav’ has been great for us all year,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards. “He probably was just a little off with his command, so behind in some counts. Stuff looked ok, but he was falling behind a fair amount, and that got him into some trouble there.”

“Definitely left a couple of sinkers up, against those lefties there,” noted Clay Holmes about his performance afterwards. “It’s tough; obviously we’re not playing our best, and everyone wants to be the guy to come in and pick up our teammates — and I just wasn’t able to get it done tonite; badly executed sinkers there.”

NY falls to 60-45, still 2 games behind Baltimore which lost, but only 3.5 ahead of the now 55-47 Red Sox.

1. Cortes Struggled

The last time Nestor Cortes faced Boston on July 5th, he shut them down, allowing only 1 run in 6 innings. This time the Red Sox made him work.

Cortes got into immediate trouble in the bottom of the 1st — after getting the first out, he allowed 2 singles and a walk to load the bases; Tyler O’Neill hit a sac fly for a 1-0 Boston lead.

The Yanks tied it 1-1 on an Anthony Volpe homer in the 2nd, but Cortes allowed a 1-out double to Connor Wong and RBI single to Rafael Devers in the 3rd. Boston 2 NY 1.

In the 4th, Cortes allowed a leadoff single, then got 2 outs — but allowed a single to Jarren Duran and an RBI double to old Yankee friend Rob Refsnyder for a 3-1 Boston lead.

The Yanks tied it 3-3 in the 5th, but Cortes put them behind again in the bottom of the 5th — a leadoff walk by Devers, double by Tyler O’Neill, and sac fly by Masataka Yoshida made it 4-3 Boston. Cortes got a strikeout for the 2nd out, but then hit Ceddanne Rafaela with a pitch and Boone yanked him at 81 pitches.

Cortes was visibly miffed that Boone came out to get him.

“I think that as a competitor or a starter you’re always going to be frustrated coming out of the game there — 81 pitches which is kind of low,” said Cortes afterwards. “I understand I had 10 or 11 people on base on the night, but I thought I made a lot of good pitches throughout the whole night, a lot of soft contact; gave up some hard ones in opportunistic times that’s why the runs scored. As a competitor you’re always going to be a little mad when you’re pulled out of the game.”

“I think I gave up 9 hits; 4 were soft contact; the other 5 came with runners on base — and that is where the runs came,” added Cortes.

2. Volpe Homer Ties It 1-1

Good news — Anthony Volpe continues to Hit. He hit a homer 409 feet to center off Bosox starter Brayan Bello in the top of the 2nd to tie the game 1-1.

3. Volpe Starts Yank Rally that Ties It 3-3 in 5th

Volpe was at it again in the top of the 5th — beating out an infield single to lead off the inning. Trent Grisham then doubled Volpe home to cut the Boston lead to 3-2.

Oswaldo Cabrera singled Grisham to 3rd, and Alex Verdugo hit a sac fly to tie the game 3-3.

4. Kahnle & Hill Do Well in Middle Relief

Tommy Kahnle relieved Cortes in the 5th, and struck out Dominic Smith to end the inning with runners on 2nd and 3rd — a huge K to keep Boston at bay.

Kahnle and Tim Hill then combined for a shutout 6th.

5. Judge BOMB & Wells HR in 7th Give Yanks Lead

With the Yanks down 4-3 in the 7th, Oswaldo Cabrera led off with an infield single — a shot back to pitcher Brennan Bernardino that bounced off his glove. Alex Verdugo lined out, but Juan Soto walked, and Aaron Judge hit a 470-foot MOON SHOT to center — and just like that the Yanks had a 6-4 lead.

Austin Wells went back-to-back and belly-to-belly, as John Sterling used to say, with a homer to right just over the wall — and the Yanks had a 7-4 lead.

6. Weaver Blows the Hold

Tim Hill pitched well in the 6th — but walked the first batter of the 7th and yielded to Luke Weaver.

Weaver struck out the first batter he faced, but fell behind Ceddanne Rafaela 3-1, then came in with consecutive 96-MPH four-seam fastballs — the first one for a strike, and the second one deposited by Rafaela over the wall in left for a 2-run homer and 7-6 game — the Yankees now clinging to a 1-run lead.

Weaver struck out the last 2 batters of the 7th — for 3 strikeouts in the inning — but in the 8th allowed a leadoff single to Rob Refsnyder, and a walk to Connor Wong before getting the tough Rafael Devers to fly out.

7. Holmes Blows the Save

With 1 out, and 2 on, in came Clay Holmes for a 5-out save.

On his second pitch to Wilyer Abreu, he threw a 96-MPH sinker that didn’t sink enough and Abreu ripped it for a double to center, scoring Refsnyder and tying the game 7-7.

On his 3rd pitch to Yoshida, a 97-MPH sinker didn’t sink and Yoshida singled in 2 runs for a 9-7 Boston lead.

Holmes got the next 2 outs but the damage was done.

8. Yank Rally in 9th Falls Short

In the 9th, Austin Wells and Gleyber Torres hit back-to-back 1-out singles off Kenley Jansen, but DJ LeMahieu struck out and Volpe grounded out for the old ballgame.

Etcetera

Good news:

  • Alex Verdugo went 2-4 with a sac fly in the leadoff spot to raise his average to .231 (.287 OBP).
  • Austin Wells went 3-5 to raise his average to .235 (.342 OBP).
  • Anthony Volpe went 2-5 to raise his average to .253 (.305 OBP).
  • Gleyber Torres went 3-5 to raise his average to .237 (.312 OBP).
  • Oswaldo Cabrera went 2-4 to raise his average to .247 (.292 OBP).

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401570028

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