Doing it the hard way, the Red Sox trotted out seven different pitchers Friday night to stymie the Yankees and give the Red Sox a 6-1 victory.
Newcomer Jhoulys Chacin, making his Red Sox debut, gave the Sox two perfect innings to start, followed by six different relievers.
Mitch Moreland smoked a three-run homer to right as the big hit in a four-run fourth. Xander Bogaerts added a two-run double an inning later.
WHO: Red Sox (75-65) vs. Yankees (92-49)
WHEN: 7:10 p.m.
WHERE: Fenway Park
SEASON SERIES TO DATE: NY 11-4
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Jhoulys Chacin (AL debut) vs. Domingo German (17-3, 4.01)
TV/RADIO NESN, MLB Network; WEEI 93.7 FM
IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:
9:38 Jackie Bradley Jr. expertly charges a single to center by Brett Gardner and throws out Gary Sanchez at the plate for his 10th OF assist of the season.
9:07 Xander Bogaerts pulls even with Devers for the team lead in doubles again, belting his 49th to CF, scoring two.
8:39 Mitch Moreland gets ahold of a curveball down in the zone and drills it into the right field box seats for a three-run homer. Sox have homered in 36 of the last 38 games. That's Moreland's first homer in almost a month -- Aug. 9 was the last one.
8:31 The last time the Yankees were at Fenway, in the first game of that series, the teams combined for 22 runs. Tonight, after four innings, they've combined for two.....hit.
8:27 On the ninth pitch of the at-bat, Rafael Devers swats a double off The Wall -- his 49th double of the season.
8:10 This bullpen game strategy is working like a charm -- Red Sox pitchers (all three of them) were perfect through 3.2 innings.
7:35 Clearly, the late-season answer to all the Red Sox' woes has arrived in the person of Jhoulys Chacin, who is mowing down the Yankees -- six up, six down, with four strikeouts.
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
Gregorius SS
Sanchez C
Encarnacion DH
Torres 2B
Gardner CF
Voit 1B
Tauchman LF
WHAT's UP: The Sox are 3-3 in their last games...Over the last six games, Red Sox starters have an ERA of 3.13..Dating back to July 24, Red Sox relievers have a 3.38, best in the American League and second-best in MLB behind only St. Louis (3.05)….Mookie Betts achieved his fifth straight 40-double season Thursday night...He also became only the fifth player ever to reach 20 homers and 40 doubles in four straight seasons. The others: Robinson Cano (five seasons), Albert Pujols (four), David Wright (four) and Jeff Kent (four)….Betts has five homers in the last six games...He leads all of baseball with 126 run and is on pace for 145....The Sox have hit 29 homers in 15 games against the Yankees, their third-highest total against the Yankees in a single season, trailing only the 32 they hit in 2004 and 30 in 2005....J.D. Martinez has six homers in the first 15 meetings...Over his last 50 games against the Yankees, Martinez is batting .373 with a 1.099 OPS with 13 homers and 42 RBI....The Sox have 221 homers, third-highest season total in franchise history...They've homered in 35 of their last 37 games...Xander Bogaerts has set career highs in homers, doubles and extra-base hits and matched his career high in RBI....Rafaal Devers is 0-for-10, though he ranks in the Top 5 in MLB in hits, runs and multi-hit games...Mitch Moreland is 0-for-11....Christian Vazquez is starting his 90th game tonight and has a chance to become the first Red Sox catcher to start a 100 or more since Jarrod Saltalamacchia (111 starts).
PRE-GAME NOTES:
- David Price (wrist) played catch as he attempts to overcome a cyst condition which has bothered him off-and-on for the last few weeks.
- Heath Hembree threw a 20-pitch bullpen Thursday and is improving, though it's uncertain whether he can return this year.
- Alex Cora visited with David Ortiz prior to the last road trip and reported that Ortiz "looks good" and has "a lot of energy.'' Cora said Ortiz has lost weight, but is beginning to eat some his normal foods.