The Red Sox knocked off the Yankees for the fifth straight time to begin this season, 4-1, putting themselves in position to sweep New York in Boston this time on Sunday following a Saturday night win where Nathan Eovaldi flashed his best stuff all season. He pitched 7.2 shutout innings, matching Martin Pérez' June 3 outing in Houston for the longest by a Red Sox pitcher this season. Eovaldi downed Yankees hitters with a high-90s fastball, cutter, curveball, slider and even flashed a splitter to torment Gary Sánchez allowing six hits and striking out six with no walks.
Then, Alex Cora let Eovaldi throw the 109th pitch to DJ LaMahieu. He knocked it over Hirokazu Sawamura's head in the bullpen for a 395-foot blast, who stepped out and proceeded to walk three Yankees after building a 1-2 advantage over Aaron Judge needing only one out with a 4-1 lead. Luke Voit stepped to home plate as the go-ahead run and grounded out against Adam Ottavino to end the inning, saving Eovaldi and the Red Sox' night.
Boston built that lead behind a 3-for-3 start from Xander Bogaerts, a pair of sacrifice flies from Kiké Hernandez and Bobby Dalbec in the second inning. Boston legged out four infield singles, including two in the third inning to help score Bogaerts, started 4-for-7 with two outs and added an insurance run in the seventh with a Bogaerts sacrifice fly. New York threatened again in the ninth, Rougned Odor nearly grounding into a game-ending double play, before LaMahieu scored him with a two-out single. Judge stepped to the plate as the go-ahead run and struck out swinging on a 96 MPH Ottavino sinker.
WHO: Red Sox (45-31) vs. New York Yankees (40-35)
WHEN: 7:15 p.m.
WHERE: Fenway Park
SEASON SERIES TO DATE: BOS 4-0
STARTING PITCHERS: RHP Nathan Eovaldi (7-4, 3.90) vs. LHP Jordan Montgomery (3-1, 4.03)
TV/RADIO: FOX ; WEEI 93.7 FM
LINEUPS
YANKEES
LeMahieu 2B
Judge CF
Sanchez C
Stanton DH
Voit 1B
Urshela 3B
Torres SS
Andujar LF
Gardner CF
RED SOX
Chavis 2B
Verdugo LF
Martinez DH
Bogaerts SS
Devers 3B
Renfroe RF
Hernandez CF
Dalbec 1B
Wong C
IN-GAME OBSERVATIONS:
T1: Michael Chavis and Xander Bogaerts combined to turn their fourth double play in Chavis' third game since coming up from Triple-A Worcester, downing DJ LeMahieu and Aaron Judge on the latter's grounder to second. Nathan Eovaldi struck out Giancarlo Stanton on a 2-2 curveball at the knees to end the inning with Gary Sánchez on first.
B1: Chavis fell to 1-for-9 (finishing 2-for-12) as Boston's leadoff man in his last three games. Jordan Montgomery downed Chavis, Alex Verdugo and J.D. Martinez in order, despite an eight-pitch battle from Verdugo.
T2: Eovaldi drew ground outs to short from Luke Voit and Gio Urshela on five pitches, then forced another to third off the bat of Glyber Torres. Eovaldi is throwing 66% of his pitches for strikes, mixing a high-90s fastball (two), mid-90s cutter (two), slide and curveball to record his six outs.
B2: Bogaerts extended his on-base streak to 21 with a poke down the third base line for his 12th infield single of 2021. Rafael Devers walked on another eight-pitch Boston at-bat. Hunter Renfroe lined a pitch off Montgomery to load the bases, before Kiké Hernández flew out to center to bring Bogaerts home and Bobby Dalbec scored Devers on the rare sacrifice fly to first base in foul territory. Connor Wong recorded a single to right in his first MLB at-bat.
T3: Miguel Andújar and LeMahieu went down on ground outs swinging at Eovaldi's slider and curve. Brett Gardner watched five Eovaldi pitches cross home plate, going down watching a strike three cutter clearly frustrated with home plate umpire Jordan Baker.
B3: The Sox legged out two more infield singles with Devers and Renfroe reaching after Boston successfully challenged a Devers two-out ground ball to shortstop. Bogaerts scored on a Renfroe hit to second base after launching a 92 MPH sinker off his bat at 109 MPH off the center field wall. Montgomery threw his 60th pitch as part of a four-pitch Hernández walk. The Sox have four hits with two outs in fewer than three innings.
T4: Eovaldi put away Sánchez, Stanton and Voit with a splitter, curve, then 97 MPH fastball on eight pitches after a five-pitch Judge single to start the frame.
B4: Montgomery struck out Wong and Chavis swinging on six pitches, leaning into his curveball, then retiring Verdugo on an off-speed pitch over the plate into a groundout.
T5: Verdugo slid in left center to catch an Urshela liner, before Hernández caught a long Torres fly ball against the center field wall as part of a 1-2-3 inning for Eovaldi, who got through five innings on 65 pitches (64.6% strikes).
B5: Bogaerts ripped a 1-2 changeup into left for his third hit in three at bats to rise to fifth in the Majors in average (.332). Devers grounded into a double play on a 1-0 changeup as Montgomery again leaned on off-speed pitches and worked a clean eight-pitch inning.
T6: Eovaldi retired his seventh straight Yankee striking out Gardner, before Devers bobbled a LeMahieu grounder that was called a single and Judge took Eovaldi's first pitch to right for another. Devers recovered and turned two on a 1-2 Sánchez grounder to end the inning.
B6: Renfroe reached on Boston's fourth infield hit. Montgomery retired Hernández on a three-pitch strikeout, got Dalbec to ground into a fielder's choice on the first pitch, then struck out Wong in six to keep the Yankees alive with his third consecutive shutout inning. He finished six innings in 95 pitches.
T7: Eovaldi scorched through seven shutout innings on 97 pitches, allowing a Stanton single, before striking out Voit, nearly retiring Urshela on a double play attempt that halted Wong short of the dugout. He retired Torres on the next at-bat with a 97 MPH fastball that Hernández caught in left center.
B7: Albert Abreu took over for Montgomery in his first MLB appearance since May 29. The 25-year-old touched 97 MPH on his sinker, allowing a single to Chavis, striking out Verdugo, then allowing a hard hit outside 99 MPH fastball off the bat of Martinez to tail away from Judge's diving glove in right field. Bogaerts sent Chavis home on a RBI sacrifice fly to center field.
T8: Eovaldi returned and nearly escaped the 8th inning, tying Martin Pérez for the longest start by a Sox pitcher this season with 7.2 IP before LaMahieu launched his final pitch, a slider over the plate, 395 feet into the Boston bullpen for a solo shot. Hirokazu Sawamura entered and got Judge to swing and miss on two of the first three pitches, before walking him after a 10-pitch battle. Judge fouled four balls off, Sánchez two more before he and Stanton walked to load the bases. Adam Ottavino and got Voit out on a 2-2 grounder to Bogaerts.
B8: Abreu retired Renfroe, Hernández and Dalbec in order.
T9: Rougned Odor reached first on a failed double play turn. LaMahieu scored him on a single after he stole second without a contest, then Ottavino walked Gardner before striking out Judge on a six-pitch at-bat to secure the save with 34 pitches.
WHAT'S UP: The Red Sox won Game 1 on Friday to remain undefeated against the Yankees in 2021...Martin Pérez allowed three unearned runs in 3.2 innings, before the bullpen finished the game with 5.1 scoreless...The Red Sox are 4-4 in their last eight games, after going 10-4 in their previous 14.....Boston's bullpen ranks top-10 in save percentage, holds and inherited score percentage with a 3.61 ERA (7th), 3.38 ERA in June (6th) and 76.2 left on base percentage (4th), pitching 10.0 consecutive innings without an earned run....The Sox have won their last five games against the Yankees, including 4-0 this season...In their 3-game sweep at NYY earlier this month, they outscored the Yankees 18-10.....The Red Sox are 21-17 (.552) at home, including 21-14 since getting swept by BAL to begin the season...Their .552 winning percentage at home ranks second in the AL East... The Sox are an MLB-best 24-14 (.632) on the road....Red Sox pitchers have allowed 0 ER in their last 18.2 IP...In their 10 games since surrendering 18 runs to TOR on 6/13, the Sox have posted a 3.45 ERA (34 ER/88.2 IP)......Sox starters have thrown five or more innings 58 times, tied for third-most in the majors...The Sox are 37-21 (.638) when their starter lasts five or more innings....They are 8-10 in all other games.... Josh Taylor has made 22 consecutive scoreless appearances (17.1 IP), tied with the Cubs’ Dan Winkler for MLB’s longest streak of 2021. J.D. Martinez' 13-game hit streak, the third-longest of his career, ended with an 0-3 night on Friday...Xander Bogaerts has reached base in 20 consecutive games, the longest active streak in MLB....Nathan Eovaldi lost his last start allowing three earned runs and seven hits in 4.0 innings during a 7-4 loss at Kansas City...Eovaldi is 3-2 in his last six starts, with a 3.63 ERA in June after a 4.50 in May....Eovaldi leads the AL in FIP (fielding independent pitching) 2.57 allowing three home runs, 19 walks and four hit by pitches in 83 innings...the Yankees are a career 31-for-117 (.264) against Eovaldi...Meanwhile, Xander Bogaerts is 6-for-14 (.429), compared to the rest of the lineup that is 4-for-26 (.154)...Alex Verdugo, Kiké Hernández and Hunter Renfroe all rank in the top-27 of 189 MLB outfielders in average velocity of their throws.
NOTES:
* C Connor Wong, 25, is making his first major league start after the Red Sox promoted him from Triple-A Worcester on Tuesday and placed Kevin Plawecki (hamstring) on the IL. Wong caught Eovaldi during the offseason in Houston after Boston acquired him as part of the Feb. 10, 2020 trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers centered around Mookie Betts and David Price. Christian Vázquez will return to the lineup to catch Eduardo Rodriguez in the series finale on Sunday. Wong hit 9-for-61 (.148) in Triple-A, but posted a .993 fielding percentage and put out 7-of-11 potential base stealers in 122 innings at catcher.
*The Yankees sent Zack Britton (4.15 ERA in 4.1 IP) to the IL with a left hamstring strain. Wandy Peralta (back) is on the IL too (5.28 ERA/5.69 FIP in 15 1/3 innings over 20 outings in New York). New York recalled Albert Abreu and Brooks Kriske from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, with Abreu allowing two earned runs in 8.2 IP and Kriske five in 4.0 IP with the major league club this season. Both will be available to pitch tonight.