The Alex Verdugo Revenge Show. NY 8 Boston 1

Alex Verdugo went 3-5 with a homer, a double and 4 RBI’s to lead the Yanks to an 8-1 win over the Red Sox in his first game back at Fenway — the team that traded him this past winter — on a Friday night.

Verdugo was traded to NY for reliever Greg Weissert, amidst some rumors that he did not fit in in the Boston clubhouse.

Verdugo — being booed at the plate by Red Sox fans — lashed at the first pitch he saw, rocketing a Brayan Bello 97-MPH sinker 405 feet over the wall in dead center for a 2-0 Yankee lead. He ran around the bases absolutely pumped as the boos echoed at Fenway, although there were many cheers from Yankee fans. Verdugo doubled in a run in the 5th to make it 4-1, and singled in a run in the 9th to make it 7-1.

Luis Gil and the Yankee pen made it all stand up — Gil pitching 5 innings of 1-run ball and Tommy Kahnle, Caleb Ferguson, Victor Gonzalez, and Michael Tonkin pitching 4 shutout innings of relief.

“I felt like I had a controlled focus all day today,” said Verdugo afterwards. “I woke up feeling alert; feeling ready to go. Obviously the adrenaline — these are one of the days I had circled.”

“Big to come back against your former team and to come out there first inning and put a swing out there that helps the team get ahead; helps Gil out there; it was big,” added Verdugo. “It was a good day and the boys came out to play. We got to come out tomorrow and do it again.”

NY improves to 50-22 and takes a 3.5 lead over Baltimore, which lost in extra innings. Boston falls to 35-35.

1. Verdugo Revenge

Verdugo struck early against Boston’s Bryan Bello: Juan Soto hit a 1-out double in the top of the 1st, and Verdugo followed with a 2-out blast to centerfield for a 2-0 Yankee lead.

The Yanks scored again off Bello in the 4th — when Giancarlo Stanton led off with a single, Anthony Rizzo walked, Gleyber Torres hit into a double play, and Oswaldo Cabrera reached on an error by Bello — who dropped the ball covering 1st on a grounder — Stanton scoring from 3rd. NY 3 Boston 0.

Verdugo made it 4-1 in the 5th: after Volpe led off with a single, and Aaron Judge walked, Verdugo doubled to left to score Volpe.

2. Rizzo Getting Hot

Anthony Rizzo followed Verdugo’s RBI double with an RBI single to right, plating Judge and it was 5-1 NY.

Rizzo mentioned after the prior game that he felt he was getting groove and he showed it in this game — going 2 for 3 with a walk.

3. Gil Good

Luis Gil, meanwhile, was good — he had electric stuff but struggled with his command.

He pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 1st, pitched around a 2-out single in the 2nd, worked around consecutive 1-out singles in the 3rd, and ran into trouble in the 4th — walking the first 2 batters, then yielding a 1-out RBI double to Valdez to make it a 3-1 game.

But Gil got tough with runners on 2nd and 3rd and 1 out — striking out 1st baseman Dominic Smith and centerfielder Ceddanne Rafaela to end the inning.

Gil allowed a leadoff walk and a 2-out walk in the 5th — and with his pitch count going over 100 and him getting precariously close to being pulled from the game without getting the win — got the tough Masataka Yoshida to groundout to end the inning with NY up 5-1.

Gil ended up throwing 104 pitches. His line: 5 innings, 4 hits, 1 run, 6 K’s and 4 walks. He wins to go 9-1 2.03.

“Just off; fortunately he had a lot of deception,” said Boone about Gil’s control. “His stuff was outstanding — I mean it was electric. His stuff is always pretty electric; tonite it felt maybe even a little bit more. They were patient with him; they took some really good at bats against him; but in the end he’s hard to string together things against because he’s so difficult to hit.”

4. Yank Relievers Throw 4 Shutout Innings

Tommy Kahnle came into a 5-1 game in the 6th and walked the first 2 batters he saw, then struck out the next 2. Lefty Caleb Ferguson came in and struck out lefty leftfielder Jarren Duran to end the inning.

Ferguson then struck out the side in the 7th — he struck out all 4 batters he faced.

Victor Gonzalez got the first 2 outs of the 8th, then walked a batter and was relieved by Michael Tonkin — who struck out Bobby Dalbec to end the 8th.

5. Yanks Score 3 in 9th to Make it Blowout

The Yankees chased Chase Anderson, who came in to pitch the top of the 9th: Jose Trevino hit a 1-out homer to left for a 6-1 game.

Juan Soto worked a 1-out walk, and Aaron Judge doubled one off the wall in left for a 7-1 lead.

And then Alex Verdugo came up a final time — and singled home Judge amidst cheers as most Red Sox fans had left and Fenway was full of Yankee fans. NY 8 Boston 1.

6. Tonkin Closes Again

After striking out Dalbec to end the 8th in a 5-1 game, Michael Tonkin came out for the 9th in an 8-1 game and had an easy inning — issuing a 1-out walk but getting a fly out and strike out for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401569514

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