All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox' 15-7 win over the Yankees on Thursday night, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:
BOX SCORE
HEADLINES
Jackie's mad dash starts it: It seemed like we were headed for another boneheaded Red Sox baserunning mistake (J.D. Martinez had one in the third inning) after they had second and third, trailing 4-2, to lead off the fourth inning against reliever Jonathan Holder when Andrew Benintendi grounded back to the pitcher. Jackie Bradley Jr. took a hard step towards home, but realized his mistake and started back to third when Holder quickly threw to Miguel Andujar. But by that time, Bradley had already made the decision to go home and he made it with spectacular head-first slide. Took Bradley only 2.81 seconds to score from a dead stop.
Said Bradley: "I think pitchers are taught to just get rid of the ball — let the position players worry about the rundown. I had already started breaking before the throw to third, felt like he was going to throw to third, instincts took over and I just started heading home."
"He got caught in no-man's land there and he made a decision -- they threw behind him and he took off," Alex Cora said. "It went from a bad baserunning play to a great slide. It kind of brought energy to the stadium, to the dugout. He's such a good athlete and he reacted to it. He made a decision and it worked for us.''
The play seemed to throw off Holder and give the Sox new life. They ended up scoring eight runs on eight hits by the end of the inning — seven off Holder, who didn't record an out — to grab a 10-4 lead.
"Looking back, two things really hurt: the lead-off walk (to Bradley) really killed me, and that play — I feel like I could have made a better decision running him back to third there," Holder said. "When I caught the ball and I looked, his back was at home and taking steps toward third so I tried to get rid of it as fast as possible.
"Mentally, no (it didn't affect me). Definitely let them get in a scenario where they could take advantage of it and have men on, two men on, with nobody out, and already had a run scored. So I think that put them in a better scenario."
Yankees manager Aaron Boone didn't have much of an issue with Holder's decision.
"It’s a good job by Holder there, actually," Boone said. "He recognized the runner and got it to Miggy, and Miggy was just a little bit delayed getting it to the plate. He’s got to get it out of his hands at that point and you either start the rundown or you have a play. I think maybe a little bit of indecision there on Miggy’s part. You grab it, run at him and really freeze him, which would have been the perfect play (by Holder), but we just didn’t execute. We did that a couple times."
https://twitter.com/MLBGIFs/status/1025189689458925568
Pearce is the straw that stirs the drink: Steve Pearce did his best Reggie Jackson impersonation by homering three times off three different pitchers — including a three-run blast in the eight-run fourth inning — to pace the Boston offense. His only home run for the Red Sox entering the game came on July 9. Have a night, kid.
https://twitter.com/Soxlunch/status/1025196348998606848
Dustin who?: In his second game since being acquired by the Red Sox, Ian Kinsler showed exactly why Dave Dombrowski went out and got him by going 3 for 6 with a two-run double, and he made two spectacular plays in the field in the seventh inning.
https://twitter.com/MLB/status/1025204047534546944
Johnson strangely effective: It didn't look good early as Brian Johnson allowed three runs (two earned) in the first three batters when Didi Gregorious launched the first of his two home runs, and Aaron Hicks hit a two-out bomb in the second to give New York a 4-0 lead, but Johnson was able give the Sox five effective innings with 11 strikeouts. Johnson righting the ship allowed the bullpen to spread out the work a little bit between Brandon Workman (2.0 innings), Joe Kelly (1.0) and Ryan Brasier (1.0). "As far as (pitching) line, it wasn't his best one,'' said Cora. "But he did a good job. He went five. It's very important against them to keep them in the ballpark because that's usually how they score and it didn't look pretty in the beginning. But he was able to get some big outs, make some adjustments as far as pitch usage throughout the outing. He gave us a chance.'' Conversely, the Yankees' bullpen got tagged as starter CC Sabathia only lasted three innings, Jonathan Holder (seven runs on 25 pitches) didn't record an out, Chad Green also couldn't survive the fourth, Luis Cessa — who was in line to start Saturday for J.A. Happ — had to go 3.2 innings, and Zach Britton finished up. Asked if he had a pitcher on the roster that could start on Saturday, Boone said: "No, I don't think that’s an option right now."
SECOND GUESS
Sabathia certainly wasn't good through three innings (two earned runs, four walks) before Boone lifted him, but he had only thrown 77 pitches and certainly couldn't have done any worse than Holder. "Just all over the place, just off with the command with everything," Sabathia said. "But I thought I was battling and trying to keep us in the game. ... I was fine (to continue after getting him on a liner). That ball wasn't hit very hard. ... I was fine after that. You have to ask (Boone). I was fine. ... I always feel like I can pitch more. That's Boone's decision. That's why he's the manager."
TWO UP
The first six batters: The first six Red Sox hitters had 18 of the team's 19 hits 14 of the 15 runs batted in. Mookie Betters (4 for 4) led the way while Benintendi, Pearce, Kinsler and Nunez had three hits each while Eduardo Nunez went 2 for 5.
Joe Kelly: Kelly continued his run of improved appearances, retiring all three hitters he faced -- though a couple were hard-hit lineouts -- and has put together four consecutive scoreless outings.
TWO DOWN
Brock Holt: Playing shortstop on a night when Xander Bogaerts got the night off, Holt made an error on the first batter of the game that led to an unearned run and went hitless at the plate.
Brandon Workman: Back from the minors after being optioned last week, Workman gave up a homer -- his fourth in just 20.2 innings this season
QUOTE OF NOTE
"Relentless -- that was probably our best inning of the season.''
— Alex Cora on the eight-run fourth that saw the Sox take control of the game for good.
INJURY REPORT
Blake Swihart was removed from the game in the seventh inning due to what was announced as hamstring tightness, and he is considered day-to-day. That's a real shame. The guy rides the pine all season, finally gets a chance to play, hits .368 in his previous 15 games, throws dudes out on the base paths ... and strains a hamstring. Bummer. Cora said Sandy Leon would catch Friday night and the Sox hoped to have Swihart available as the backup catcher.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- In 10 meetings this season, either the Yankees or the Red Sox have reached double figures in runs scored five times.
- Betts became the second Red Sox player this season to reach base six times in a game.
- In 59 career games against the Yankees, Pearce has 13 homers.
- The Sox managed to score in six of their eight innings.
- Thursday marked the seventh time this season the Red Sox have allowed three or more runs in the first inning -- they're 4-3 in those games.
- Kinsler has four three-hit games in his last nine.
- Martinez has four doubles in his last four games and has already surpassed his total of last year.