Sox make things look oh so easy
NEW YORK — It’s no easy task to silence the Yankees or shut up their fans. Last night, the most remarkable feat wasn’t that the Red Sox accomplished both at Yankee Stadium, it was that they made it look so ridiculously easy in a 16-1 rout to take a 2-1 lead in the Division Series.
The Yankees held all the cards and had all the momentum coming in after winning a game at Fenway Park to even the series.
Yankee Stadium was in full deep-throated roar mode well before too much beer had been sold and the anthem was sung.
Next came the sounds of silence, as it quickly became clear that as soon as the Red Sox stepped onto the field they were also stomping on the Yankees’ throats.
The thumping was a major embarrassment for the pinstripes and an earnest reminder from the Red Sox that their 108 wins in the regular season were not some sort of meaningless fluke.
How could we have ever doubted them?
Up and down the respective lineups — first-time series starter Brock Holt hit for the cycle among the team’s 18 hits — and from the starters’ spots — Nathan Eovaldi was brilliant, allowing one run, five hits and no walks in his seven innings — and from the managers’ seats, the Red Sox toproped the Yankees on their home field and the home team collapsed.
Now, with a win in tonight’s Game 4, the Red Sox have the chance to move on to the ALCS and demolish a visiting Yankees clubhouse with an earned suds display for the first time in 14 years since they won Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS. After last night’s massacre, why not?
This one had the right feel for the Red Sox right from the start, and maybe even earlier than that.
Mookie Betts took a ferocious swing at the very first pitch that Yankees starter Luis Severino threw and launched it to dead center where Brett Gardner settled under it in the middle of the warning track. The loud out was an early warning shot that Betts finally was awake after being a non-factor (1-for-7) in the first two games.
But a back-story to the hack emerged mid-game, well after Severino had been sent to the showers belatedly by Yankees manager Aaron Boone. TBS reported that Severino may have warmed up for his start about 10 minutes before its 7:42 p.m. start because he thought the game was starting after 8.
True or not, Severino’s stuff and command were as off as his timing, while his counterpart Eovaldi was a machine as he methodically mowed down the Yankees inning by inning.
The Red Sox lineup was up to the job, aided by manager Alex Cora’s major re-shuffling, replacing the lifeless bats from the first two games of second baseman Ian Kinsler, third baseman Eduardo Nunez and catcher Sandy Leon with Holt, Rafael Devers and Christian Vazquez. Every move was rewarded. Vazquez singled in Devers, who had singled, in the second for the 1-0 lead. Two more runs in the third sure felt like a big deal.
Thank dynamic baserunning from Betts for that shift.
After reaching first on a single, Betts was off and running on Andrew Benintendi’s single to left field. Left fielder Andrew McCutchen ran in on the ball but not hard enough or fast enough. Betts appeared to slightly slow as he rounded second but he kicked into a high gear once he saw McCutchen’s non-urgent play.
The play was electric, and it might have helped inspire two more runs — J.D. Martinez sacrifice fly, Devers’ RBI groundout — for a more commanding 3-0 lead.
Then the demolition show began. Facing the bottom third of the order, Severino loaded the bases on two singles and walk, long after the crowd began hooting on him but before Boone recognized the rapid escalation to the threat level. He tardily replaced his possibly tardy starter with Lance Lynn, who was not ready either. He walked Betts for one run, then gave up a basesclearing triple to Benintendi.
The Red Sox were not done. Steve Pearce singled in a run and Holt doubled in two more. The lead was 10-0 and the bleachers and suites were effectively cropdusted with Sominex.