Porcello helps Red Sox top Yankees
Boston starter retires 21 straight batters to close out one-hitter, Verlander wins classic rematch
>> BOSTON: Rick Porcello retired the last 21 batters he faced en route to a onehitter, and Steve Pearce hit a two-run homer in an explosive three-run first inning on Friday night as Boston beat the New York Yankees 4-1 in a game that featured Alex Cora’s first ejection as Red Sox manager.
Boston starter Porcello (14-4) hit Brett Gardner with his third pitch of the game and served up a home run to Miguel Andujar leading off the third inning. But he did not give up another baserunner the rest of the way in his 10th career complete game and first of the season.
The right-hander struck out nine and did not walk a batter. He faced just one batter over the minimum, with Gardner having been erased on a double play in the first inning.
The win was Boston’s sixth in their last seven games, and gave the Red Sox a 6-5 lead over the Yankees in the season series. The Red Sox increased their lead in the American League East to 7½ games over the Yankees, who lost their third straight.
Ramon Laureano’s first major league hit, a 13th-inning single that one-hopped the fence in right field, drove in Nick Martini with the only run of the game, as hosts Oakland outlasted Detroit 1-0 in one of the season’s best pitching duels.
Well after left-handers Brett Anderson of the A’s and Blaine Hardy of the Tigers had taken no-hitters past the midpoint of the contest and left a scoreless tie, Martini led off the 13th with a walk off the fifth Tigers pitcher, right-hander Buck Farmer (3-4).
Two outs later, Jonathan Lucroy singled Martini to second, from where he coasted home on Laureano’s walk-off hit to the opposite field. The 24-year-old Laureano had been promoted from Triple-A earlier in the day. He’d gone 0-for-4 with two strikeouts before the game-winner.
Eric Thames hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth as hosts Milwaukee rallied to beat Colorado 5-3.
Christian Yelich also homered for the Brewers, who kept pace with the Chicago Cubs in the National League Central. Milwaukee trail Chicago by a game for first place.
The Brewers trailed 3-2 entering the ninth when Colorado closer Wade Davis (1-5) blew a save for the second day in a row. He got the first out before issuing two walks. He got Jonathan Schoop to pop up for the second out before Thames hit a 1-1 fastball into the right field seats. It was Thames’ 15th homer of the season and Davis’ sixth blown save in 37 chances.
Justin Verlander struck out 14 over 7 2/3 innings and George Springer had a two-run double as Houston won 2-1 at Los Angeles in the first game between the clubs since last fall’s World Series.
Springer owned the 2017 Fall Classic with five home runs, including homers in four consecutive games. On Friday it was as if the series never ended, as he walked in the first inning and gave the Astros a pair of runs in the second.
Verlander was in complete control, striking out five consecutive batters between the first and second innings and striking out the side in both the second and the fourth. Other than a home run by Joc Pederson, Verlander (11-6) gave up just three singles.