The Red Sox kicked off their weekend series with the New York Yankees in style, pounding out a season-high 23 hits in a 19-3 thumping of their rivals. The 19 runs are the most ever scored by the Red Sox in a single game against the Yankees.
The Sox raced out to a 7-0 lead in the first as they batted around against Masahiro Tanaka and kept adding on throughout. Eight different players had multiple RBI and Xander Bogaerts had two of the four homers.
Rick Porcello, who had allowed 22 runs in his last 17 innings, had a rough third inning in which he needed 47 pitches to get three outs, but after that, allowed just one more run in his final three innings.
WHO: Red Sox (56-47) vs. New York Yankees (66-35)
WHEN: 7:10 p.m.
WHERE: Fenway Park
SEASON SERIES TO DATE: New York 6-1
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Rick Porcello (8-7, 5.61) vs.RHP Masahiro Tanaka (7-5, 4.00)
TV/RADIO: NESN/WEEI 93.7 FM
IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:
10:02 Darwinzon Hernandez fans two in a 1-2-3 seventh. He now has 20 strikeouts in 9.1 innings.
9:52 Red Sox keep piling on. Devers doubles home Betts for 16th run, one shy of the team's season high.
9:18 Since that brutal second inning, Porcello has retired nine of the last 10, with a solo homer by Higashioka the only baserunner against him.
8:57 The beating continues for Tanaka, who has given up nine runs on 11 hits....and remains on the mound despite 1) having already thrown 82 pitches and 2) the Yankees having 14 pitchers active.
8:28 Brock Holt ejected for arguing a called third strike. Holt was barking at home plate umpire D.J. Reyburn as he returned to the dugout, and was run.
8:18 The numbers on Porcello are really troubling. In his last five starts, counting tonight, he's allowed 29 runs in his last 25 innings, with 45 hits and eight walks. That's a WHIP of more than 2.0 and an ERA of 10.44
8:12 Forty seven (!!) pitches from Porcello to get through that second inning.
8:09 Porcello had LeMahieu 0-and-2...then lost him, walking him to force in a run.
7:55 Yankees answer back with three straight hits and a run and after a quick 1-2-3 first, Porcello is laboring.
7:42 As he takes the mound in the top of the second, Rick Porcello is again the beneficiary of strong run support, with seven runs. He came into tonight averaging 7.16 runs per start of offensive backing.
7:30 It's London in reverse as the Sox jump out to a 7-0 lead in the first. Betts doubles to the left-center gap, scoring two, for his second hit of the inning.
7:38 Jackie Bradley Jr. snaps an 0-for-13 with a sharp double into the RF corner, scoring two.
7:31 Sox jumping on Masahiro Tanaka early -- five of the first six hitters have reached.
7:27 Xander Bogaerts continues to mash, getting a four-seamer down-and-in and slamming it over everything in left, giving the Red Sox 3-0. That's 21 RBI in the last 17 games for Bogaerts, who, together with Rafael Devers, is keeping the Sox in the hunt.
LINEUPS:
RED SOX
Betts RF
Devers 3B
Bogaerts SS
Martinez DH
Benintendi LF
Holt 2B
Moreland 1B
Vazquez C
Bradley CF
YANKEES
LeMahieu 3B
Judge RF
Hicks CF
Encarnacion DH
Gregorius SS
Voit 1B
Torres 2B
Tauchman LF
Higashioka C
WHAT'S UP: This marks the first visit of the season for the Yankees to Fenway, the latest they've ever made their first trip here...The Sox are 7-6 since the All-Star break...For the Red Sox, this marks the start of a home-heavy schedule, with 19 of the next 26 at Fenway, where the Red Sox are just 24-25...Since the start of 2016, the Red Sox are 19-10 at Fenway against the Yankees, including 7-3 last season...The Sox are second in runs scored in the big leagues (582), second in batting average (.271), third in OBP (.344) and tied for second in extra-base hits (380)….Both the Red Sox and Yankees have scored six or more runs in a game 50 times this season, leading MLB...Mookie Betts has reached base in 37 of his last 38 games, including the last 21 in a row...The Sox have had their starters go at least six innings in each of the last four games, tied for the longest such streak of the season for them. They've had three other such streak....Andrew Benintendi has multiple hits in two of his three games and nine RBI in his last 14..Xander Bogaerts is one five players in baseball to be hitting at least .300, score 75 runs, and knock in 75 runs....Rafael Devers has hit safely in five straight...Jackie Bradley Jr. is 0-for-13...J.D. Martinez has seven hits in his last three games...Dating back to before he went on the IL, Mitch Moreland is 0-for-16...Rick Porcello has pitched poorly of late (22 runs over his last 17 innings in his last four starts), but he has a 1.21 ERA against the Yankees at Fenway in his last nine starts...He allowed two earned runs or fewer in those nine starts...Edwin Encarnacion is a .298 (14-for-47) career hitter against Porcello with three homers....Didi Gregorius is hitting just .188 (6-for-32) lifetime and Aaron Hicks (5-for-36) is hitting .139....J.D. Martinez is 8-for-18 (.444) with three homers...Mookie Betts is a .326 hitter (14-for-43).
PRE-GAME NOTES:
- Michael Chavis is not in the starting lineup, but is healthier and will be in the lineup Friday and Saturday against lefties.
- Alex Cora said he hasn't heard further from MLB on his protest of Wednesday's 3-2 loss ("It's going nowhere"), and hinted that he might rescind the protest.