Sox OK despite ’pen
Take Game 1 even as relievers struggle
It was always the chief — oftentimes maddeningly confusing — concern when it came to these record-setting Red Sox.
They had the top offense in the majors and a starting rotation among the best, but a bullpen that caused more angst than necessary.
So, it only seemed appropriate that the Red Sox’ shaky bullpen reared its ugly head in the first game of the postseason.
In a Game 1 where the offense came ready and ace starter Chris Sale erased most of the concerns surrounding him, the Sox’ bullpen nearly brought it all down.
In all, it took five relievers — including starter Rick Porcello — and several nervous moments before the Red Sox somehow stitched together a 5-4 victory over the Yankees to begin this American League Division Series at Fenway.
The Red Sox’ leagueleading offense didn’t take long to make an impact. That early lead was critical. After hitting 43 homers in the regular season, it was appropriate for J.D. Martinez to get the party started when he smacked a threerun homer over the Green Monster in the first inning.
The Sox went on to jump ahead of New York by a 5-0 margin and chased Yankees starter J.A. Happ.
As for the Sox starter, Sale entered these playoffs with some concerns after having shoulder issues late in the season. The left-hander went on to give the Sox 51⁄3 innings before manager Alex Cora turned to the bullpen.
Ryan Brasier went first and inherited a pair of runners from Sale. Brasier’s first pitch was a sign of things to come as New York’s Luke Voit took him down the right-field line for an RBI single. Didi Gregorius followed by grounding into a fielder’s choice that made it 5-2, before a walk of Miguel Andujar ended Brasier’s night.
Brandon Workman arrived on the mound and issued a four-pitch walk to slugger Gary Sanchez and loaded the bases. But Workman dug in, and after pitching the count full to Gleyber Torres, his knuckle curve got the rookie swinging to end the inning.
Confidence was restored, if only for a moment. Workman caused more uneasiness in the seventh by giving up leadoff singles to Andrew McCutchen and Aaron Judge before giving way to Matt Barnes. Barnes immediately threw a wild pitch to put runners on second and third, and a walk to Brett Gardner loaded the bases with no outs.
Barnes somehow escaped the jam mostly unharmed. He struck out Giancarlo Stanton swinging. Voit grounded into a fielder’s choice that scored McCutchen. Barnes then set down Gardner with a groundout to keep the Red Sox’ lead at 5-3.
In the eighth, Cora made the boldest decision of the night by going to Porcello, who is scheduled to start Monday’s Game 3 in New York. Seemingly unconcerned about how that might affect the Red Sox in the long term, Cora sacrificed for the short term, and it paid off.
Porcello threw just 15 pitches, and they were important ones despite it being unclear how that affects his availability for the rest of the series. He retired Andujar and Sanchez before giving up an infield single to Torres. Craig Kimbrel came in and delivered a four-out save, although he did allow a ninth-inning homer by Judge before striking out Gardner, Stanton and Voit to the end the game.