Sanchez, Judge power Yankees past Red Sox to even AL series
NEW YORK 6 BOSTON 2 (Series tied 1-1)
BOSTON — Gary Sanchez homered twice, Aaron Judge also hit a tape-measure shot and Masahiro Tanaka pitched the New York Yankees past the Boston Red Sox 6-2 on Saturday night to tie their AL Division Series at one game apiece.
Home runs by Judge and Sanchez helped chase David Price after only five outs. Sanchez’s second homer, a threerun shot in the seventh that made it 6-1, was projected at 479 feet.
One night after Chris Sale earned his first career playoff victory, Price failed in his 10th try to win a post-season start and was booed off the field by a sold-out Fenway Park crowd hoping to see the AL East champions protect the home-field advantage they earned with a franchise-record 108 regularseason wins.
Instead, the wild-card Yankees will have a chance to advance to the AL Championship Series with victories at home, where they are 7-0 over the past two postseasons, in Games 3 and 4 on Monday and Tuesday nights. Game 5 would be back in Boston on Thursday, if necessary. Judge’s homer, estimated at 445 feet, landed in the back row of the seats above the Green Monster, high above the 379-foot marker and about 10 feet to the left of the pole flying an American flag blowing straight out. Sanchez’s second homer was in same direction but sailed clean out of the park, onto Lansdowne Street.
Just a few feet away from that spot is a plaque noting that only six home runs in the 106-year history of Fenway Park have cleared the back wall on the other side of the flagpole. The last was by Jim Rice in 1975.
Sanchez, whose batting average didn’t top .200 after June 8, also had a solo shot in the second inning to give New York a 2-0 lead. Price then walked back-to-back batters with two outs and gave up an Andrew McCutchen’s RBI single on what could be his last pitch in a Red Sox uniform.
The 2012 AL Cy Young Award winner — and two-time runner up for the award — Price signed a seven-year, $217 million deal to come to Boston as a free agent before the 2016 season and has pitched like an ace in the regular season. But his post-season struggles have caused Red Sox fans to sour on him, and vice-versa; he can opt out of his contract after the season, and if he can find something close to the four years and $124 million US he is owed, he might just take it.
In all, Price was charged with three runs on three hits and two walks in 1 2/3 innings — the shortest playoff start of his career, and tied with Roger Clemens for the shortest in Red Sox post-season history. It was the first time in 299 regular season and post-season starts that Price failed to strike out a batter.
Tanaka allowed just three hits, including Xander Bogaerts’ solo homer, before leaving after five innings with a 3-1 lead. He struck out four and walked one.
Red Sox reliever Ryan Brasier had words with Sanchez in the fifth inning, when the Yankees catcher stepped out of the box to think about the 1-2 count against him. Brasier motioned impatiently for Sanchez to get back in the box, and told him so in some impolite terms.
The teams have today off before resuming the series in New York on Monday night.
HOUSTON — Marwin Gonzalez hit a go-ahead, tworun double, Alex Bregman homered for the second straight day and the Houston Astros beat the Cleveland Indians 3-1 Saturday to take a 2-0 AL Division Series lead.
Gerrit Cole struck out 12 and walked none, combining with two relievers on Houston’s second straight three-hitter. He allowed Francisco Lindor’s third-inning homer.
Gonzalez put the Astros ahead in the sixth with the third of his four hits, an opposite-field double to right off usually reliable reliever Andrew Miller.
Bregman homered against Trevor Bauer in the seventh, and the World Series champions moved within a win of a second straight trip to the AL Championship Series.
Dallas Keuchel starts for the Astros when the series resumes Monday in Cleveland. Mike Clevinger is scheduled to pitch for the Indians.
Cole followed Monday’s solid start from Justin Verlander by allowing one run and three hits in seven innings, joining Tom Seaver (1973) as the only pitchers to strike out at least 12 batters without a walk in a post-season game.
Ryan Pressly got two outs, and Roberto Osuna walked one in a four-out save.
Cleveland starter Carlos Carrasco allowed two runs and six hits in 5 1/3 innings.
The AL Central champion Indians have three runs in the two games and are batting .100 (6 for 60). Jose Ramirez, Edwin Encarnacion and Josh Donaldson have combined to go 1 for 22.
Jose Altuve singled leading off the sixth but slipped as he left the batter’s box and was limping after reaching first base. Manager AJ Hinch and a trainer came out to check on Altuve, who remained in the game.
Bregman walked and one out later, Cleveland brought in Miller, the dominating left-hander who was MVP of the 2016 AL Championship Series, but has been slowed by injuries this year.