After taking until the final day of the regular season to set it up, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox met in the American League Wild Card game last night. Neither team had a season that was expected, as the Yankees fell way under expectations, while the Red Sox tremendously exceeded them.
The Yankees had such a roller-coaster season and it hit the final drop on Tuesday night. With their ace pitcher Gerrit Cole on the mound, the Yankees seemed to be in a good position coming in. Especially after they had swept Boston at Fenway Park last week. But the game was really over before it started. After Giancarlo Stanton missed a home run by mere feet off the Green Monster in the top of the first, Xander Bogaerts didn’t miss a two-run shot off Cole in the bottom half.
XANDER BOGAERTS PUTS THE RED SOX ON TOP 💥 pic.twitter.com/aPmYrfnqMm
— ESPN (@espn) October 6, 2021
The Yankee offense never got it going, while Cole gave up another homer to Kyle Schwarber in the third. Nathan Eovaldi was dominant and completely shut down the Bombers. After a single and walk in the third, Cole got the hook.
Momentum Shift Falls Flat
The Yankees got on the board in the sixth on an Anthony Rizzo homer, and that felt like a turning point in the game. They looked to be grabbing some momentum in the sixth, as Aaron Judge singled following the Rizzo bomb to knock Eovaldi out of the game. Ryan Brasier came in to face Stanton with one out. Stanton ripped one off the monster again, which caromed back to center fielder Kiké Hernández, who played it perfectly. Judge rounded second and instead of being held up by third base coach Phil Nevin, he got the send. The cut-off throw from Bogaerts nailed Judge at the plate to keep it a two-run game. Then the Red Sox added one back in the bottom of the frame on an Alex Verdugo RBI base knock.
The Yankees had their best chance of the game thwarted by the combination of a perfect play by the Red Sox and a bad send from third. Boston added two more in the seventh which pretty much sealed the Yankees’ fate.
Statistics
The only player to really show up for the Yankees on offense was Stanton. He finished 3-for-4 with a homer in the ninth that made it 6-2. He and Judge carried the Yankees the entire season and he once again showed up in the postseason. Clay Holmes came out of the bullpen after Cole and pitched two huge shutout innings to keep the game at 3-0. He was one of the best pitchers this season after they had traded for the right-hander before the trade deadline.
For the Red Sox, all their keys to victory I mentioned in the preview article came true. While Rafael Devers went hitless, he did walk twice and scored a run. His at-bats were huge to set up Bogaerts, who got hot. The Red Sox shortstop had the big homer in the first and also walked twice. The other key to victory was for Eovaldi to be an ace. He certainly was, as he looked like the stud from the 2018 postseason. Over 5 1/3 innings, the right-hander was filthy as he struck out eight Yankees and allowed just the one run on the Rizzo homer and three other hits.
What’s Next?
Now the Red Sox will meet with their other division rival in the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Division Series. It is the first time the two teams meet in the postseason since the 2013 ALDS when Boston went on to win it all. One player to keep an eye on is J.D. Martinez, who was out for the Wild Card Game. The slugger suffered a sprained left ankle in Game 162 when he tripped over the second-base bag. Whether or not Martinez can go will be huge for the Red Sox lineup.
Series: ALDS
Teams: Boston Red Sox vs. Tampa Bay Rays
Date: Begins on Thursday, Oct. 7 at 8:07 p.m. EST)
TV: FS1
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Main Image Credit: Embed from Getty Images
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