Yanks Win Rollercoaster Fenway Park Fun Fest! NY 11 Boston 8

July 28, 2024 paperbacklou 2024 0

The Yankees were down to their final strike, losing 8-7 with a runner on 3rd in the 9th inning, when Trent Grisham launched a ball to left that appeared it might be caught for the final out — but the ball was hit hard enough to carry over leftfielder Tyler O’Neill‘s head, off the Green Monster for a Clutch, game-tying double!

The Yanks then plated 3 runs in the 10th on a clutch RBI sac fly by Austin Wells, and a huge 2-RBI double by Gleyber Torres to win 11-8 in 10 innings in a Rollercoaster on a Saturday night in Boston. Broadcast nationally on Fox.

Heroes abounded for the Yankees — including Clay Holmes who rebounded from the blown save of the night before to pitch 2 shutout innings — the 9th and 10th. And Aaron Judge, who simply went 4-4 with 2 walks and a homer.

Both teams had their hitting sticks on, and kept banging balls off the Green Monster all night, or just over the short wall in right. The Yanks had a 3-0 lead in the top of the 1st; Boston tied it 3-3 in the bottom of the 1st. The Yanks took a 4-3 lead in the top of the 2nd; Boston took a 5-4 lead in the bottom of the 2nd.

The Yanks tied it 5-5 in the 5th; Boston went ahead 6-5 in the bottom of the 5th; the Yanks tied it 6-6 in the 7th; Boston went ahead 8-6 in the bottom of the 7th.

“A true Fenway Park win!”, noted famed graphic artist and Yankee fan Marcus Kelligrew on Twitter.

“Tonite got turned upside down pretty early, and you’re trying to piece it together,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards. “A number of guys in the pen stepped up; a couple of guys struggled; but everyone just kept picking it up. I was asked before the game about last night, ‘Do you ever get a chance to appreciate these games?’ — they’re grueling when you’re going thru them — but these first 2 games of the series are kind of classic for being regular-season games.”

NY improves to 61-45 and pull to within 1 game of 1st place Baltimore, which lost. Boston falls to 55-48 — 4.5 behind the Yanks.

1. Soto & Judge HR’s Puts Yanks on Top in 1st

The Yanks were up against Kutter Crawford, who shut them out 3-0 with 7 innings of 4-hit ball the last time they faced him on July 8th. This time, NY got on him right away — Alex Verdugo led off the game with a single, and Juan Soto up next hit a bomb to right for a 2-0 Yankee lead.

Aaron Judge followed with a Homer over the Green Monster and it was 3-0 NY.

2. Stroman Brought the Wrong Glove

But Boston came right back at NY in the bottom of the 1st and it became clear this might be an old-fashioned Fenway Park slugfest looming.

After getting the 1st out, Marcus Stroman yielded a 420-foot homer to center by rightfielder Wilyer Abreu, then singles to Masataka Yoshida and Rafael Devers, and a 2-RBI double to Tyler O’Neill and it was a tie game 3-3.

Stroman got the final outs of the 1st, but in the 2nd got roughed up some more after the Yanks had provided him with a 4-3 lead — an error by Anthony Volpe to lead off the 2nd, then singles by shortstop Ceddanne Rafaela, centerfielder Jarren Duran, and DH Yoshida and Boston got back on top 5-4.

It was clear Stroman had chosen the wrong glove for the game — he was using his medium-brown glove — and we called out to him on Twitter to switch to his Light Blue glove.

Stroman got through the 3rd despite allowing a walk and single — helped by inducing a double play — but got yanked in the 4th after allowing a 1-out double to Duran.

Stroman’s line: 3.1 innings, 9 hits, 5 runs, 0 K’s, 1 walk in only 60 pitches.

3. Oswaldo HR Ties It in 2nd

Meanwhile, the Yanks temporarily got Stroman back the lead in the top of the 2nd when Oswaldo Cabrera put one just over the wall in right, that rightfielder Wilyer Abreu made a tremendous catch attempt on — but the ball fell out of his glove as he himself fell over the rightfield wall into the seats!

4. Judge RBI Single Ties It in 5th

Down 5-4, the Yanks knocked out Kutter Crawford in the 5th — Alex Verdugo (who had 3 hits on the night) led off with a double, and after Soto grounded out, Aaron Judge ripped a single to left to tie the game 5-5.

5. Yank Relievers Caleb, Cousins, & Hill Do OK

Caleb Ferguson relieved Stroman in the 4th and got the last 2 outs of the inning, and then NFL star Kirk Cousins’ cousin Jake Cousins pitched the 5th — striking out 2 but yielding a solo homer to Tyler O’Neil which gave Boston back a lead, 6-5.

Cousins got the 1st out of the 6th — another strikeout — and then Tim Hill took it from there — getting the last 2 outs of the 6th and the 1st out of the 7th.

6. Rice Sac Fly Ties It in 7th

Josh Winckowski came in to pitch for the Red Sox in the 7th, and walked Aaron Judge and Austin Wells to lead off the inning. Gleyber Torres grounded out to move the runners to 2nd and 3rd, and Ben Rice hit a clutch sac fly to tie the game 6-6.

7. Tonkin Bombed

Lefty side-armer Tim Hill got the first out of the 7th, striking out lefty Rafael Devers — and then Boone brought in Michael Tonkin — but Tonkin did not have it — allowing an immediate homer to Tyler O’Neill to put Boston up 7-6, and then a double to Dominic Smith, hit Connor Wong with a pitch, and allowed an RBI double to David Hamilton to make it 8-6 Boston.

Tonkin got an out, but walked Duran to load the bases with 2 outs — and was yanked.

Tommy Kahnle came in and got a HUGE out — getting Abreu to ground out to 1st to keep the game at 8-6 Boston.

8. Judge RBI Double; Soto Baserunning Gaffe in 8th

Down 8-6, Alex Verdugo got the Yanks cooking again with a 1-out single in the top of the 8th off lefty Bailey Horn. Juan Soto walked, and righty Zack Kelly was brought in to face Aaron Judge. Judge ripped a 1-2, 98-MPH fastball to left that easily plated Verdugo but Juan Soto blew past the stop sign at 3rd and was an easy out at home plate. Boston 8 NY 7.

A horrendous baserunning error by #22 Soto — had the uniform number been #25 Gleyber he would have been crucified on Yankee Twitter. Still it looked like a baserunning gaffe that would cost the Yankees the game.

Boston media personality Jared Carrabis likened it to the out at homer on the Giancarlo Stanton double off the wall in the Wild Card game a few years ago.

9. Kahnle Great

Tommy Kahnle — who got the huge final out of the 7th with bases loaded — smoked Boston in the 8th with a 1-2-3 inning, the last 2 outs on strikeouts as his 88-MPH changeup was curving like crazy. Kahnle struck out Devers on 3 straight 88-MPH changeups.

10. Grisham Ties It in 9th

And then to the 9th — Yanks down 8-7 and facing Boston ace reliever Kenley Jansen. Gleyber Torres struck out to start the inning but Ben Rice ripped a huge double to center to put the tying run in scoring position.

Jahmai Jones came in to run for Rice — and he did a great job dashing to 3rd on a groundout to shortstop by Anthony Volpe.

With 2 outs, and the tying run on 3rd — Trent Grisham fell behind 0-2, then fouled off a pitch, took 2 balls — and ripped a 2-2 cutter just over the head of O’Neil in left for a tie game !!!

“I thought Grish put such a quality at bat,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards. “He fell behind 0-2 and just kept grinding — spoiled a couple of pitches, got to 2-2 — and then forced one the other way.”

11. Wells & Gleyber Heroes in 10th

Clay Holmes — having blown the save the night before — came out with fire and blew through the Red Sox lineup in the bottom of the 9th.

In the top of the 10th, with Chase Anderson in for the Red Sox, and Oswaldo Cabrera the inherited runner on 2nd — Alex Verdugo popped out to begin the inning — but Juan Soto got a huge single to center to send Oswaldo to 3rd — where he got a red light and good call because Duran rifled one home and he would have been a dead duck.

Aaron Judge was pseudo-intentionally walked to load the bases with 1 out, and Austin Wells ripped a sinking liner to opposite-field left that O’Neil caught — as Oswaldo scored on the sac fly. HUGE.

Then Gleyber Torres — 0-5 in the game and due — Ripped a double to left center for 2 runs and an 11-8 Yankee lead!

12. Holmes Terrific

Clay Holmes, who had been filthy in the 9th, got final redemption in the 10th. With the inherited runner on 2nd, the got a groundout of Rafaela to begin the inning, then struck out Jarren Duran. With 2 outs, he walked Abreu on a 3-2 pitch to bring the tying run to the plate — Matsasuka Yoshida — who had hit a stunning, game-tying homer off Holmes in early July, and also got a game-winning base hit off Holmes the night before.

Holmes went 0-2 on Yoshida, missed with a sinker low, and then got Yoshida to hit a sweeper on the ground to 1st, where DJ LeMahieu — inserted for Defense after Ben Rice was pinch run for — made the play for the old ballgame.

 

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401570044

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