All you need to know, in quickie form, about the Red Sox 10-2 win over the Yankees, complete with BSJ analysis and insight:
BOX SCORE
HEADLINES
Houck follows up debut: Tanner Houck's major league debut last week in Miami -- five shutout innings, two hits allowed -- was impressive. His follow-up might have been even better, especially considering that he faced a far tougher lineup this time around, in a far friendlier hitter's ballpark. Even though he allowed a run Sunday over six innings, it was unearned. And did we mention that Houck didn't allow so much as a hit through the first five innings? Eventually, the no-hit bid was spoiled by a leadoff double by Tyler Wade in the sixth. He followed that with a walk, but then got a double play and groundout to finish the inning and his appearance. Houck is the third Red Sox pitcher in franchise history to allow no earned runs over five or more innings in his first two major league appearances. The others were Vaughn Eshelman (in 1995) and Dave "Boo'' Ferris in 1945. He's also the first Red Sox pitcher to win his first two career starts since Eduardo Rodriguez in 2015.
Chavis clears the cloud: Michael Chavis had arguably his best game of the season, connecting for two homers in two innings off New York starter Deivi Garcia. In a season that has been marked by inconsistency and only occasional playing time, those were the first two homers he's hit at Fenway this season and helped to lift him out of a mental funk he's been in of late. "The toughest thing is the mental aspect and the emotional aspect this year has been very difficult,'' he said. "Lately, I hadn't been really having any fun and I kind of forgot why I play baseball. I had some really great conversations with some great people and they gave me some advice. I went 0-for-3 (Saturday) but I was able to have fun.'' Chavis cited the negativity that he sees on various social media platforms as one of the things had been discouraging him. That improved mood and renewed positivity carried over to Sunday for the third multi-homer game of his career and first this season.
Disturbance in the outfield: The game was held up for almost 10 minutes at the top of the eighth inning when a fan appeared to have broken into the ballpark, appeared on the monster seats and later climbed down on the camera platform suspended above the center field bleachers. He first threw two hats onto the field, yelled at Chavis that he wasn't worthy of wearing No. 23 because he wasn't as good as Michael Jordan and later performed a series of pushups on the platform while security and police rushed to the scene. He was eventually escorted out of the ballpark without incident. "Honestly it was part of a weird situation,'' said Chavis. "Part of me doesn't want to get into it just because you don't want to encourage that kind of stuff. It was kind of scary there for a moment with some things that happened.''
TURNING POINT
The Red Sox already led 3-0 in the third after Jackie Bradley Jr.'s second hit of the day delivered Rafael Devers from second base. But when Chavis stepped up to the plate and caught a flat slider and drove a line drive into the Monster Seats, the lead doubled to 6-0. That, combined with the way that Houck was taming the Yankees lineup was enough to basically cement the victory.
TWO UP
Jackie Bradley Jr.: Bradley banged out a season-high four hits for the fourth time in his career and also scored three runs. He's hitting .306 in his last 31 games.
Bobby Dalbec: Dalbec became the third Red Sox player in team history to hit seven homers in his first 17 games, joining George Scott (1966) and Sam Horn (1987)
ONE DOWN
Tzu-Wei Lin: Getting a rare start, playing second base, Lin was 0-for-3, though he did add a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning.
QUOTE OF NOTE
''Seeing him against a great offense, it's great to see that the stuff that everyone has seen in our minor league system comes up here and it plays.'' Ron Roenicke on Tanner Houck.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- Jonathan Arauz snapped an 0-for-20 slump with a single in the eighth inning.
- The game saw the Red Sox hit four homers (or more) for the fifth time this season.
- Rafael Devers has reached base in 19 of his last 20 games.
- Half of J.D. Martinez's 36 hits this season have been for extra-bases.
- Christian Vazquez became the second catcher in Red Sox history to bat leadoff, following Jason Varitek (Oct. 3, 2004).