A sudden Sox killer
Stanton puts his struggles behind
There was a time not long ago when the Red Sox were Giancarlo Stanton’s kryptonite. But those days seem to be well in the past now.
RED SOX NOTEBOOK
Stanton is now the Red Sox’ kryptonite, and he showed again why on Saturday. The Yankees slugger broke a tied game in the sixth, crushing Boston’s pitching staff with yet another dagger, a go-ahead two-run home run that was ultimately the difference as the Red Sox lost 4-2 and face another season-opening series sweep.
With Nick Pivetta’s velocity declining and his sharpness waning after a strong opening three innings, manager Alex Cora kept his No. 2 starter in the game for a third time through the Yankees order even though he had already given up a game-tying two-run homer to Anthony Rizzo in the fourth and was starting to get hit with hard contact.
Pivetta issued a leadoff walk to Aaron Judge before sitting down Rizzo on a foul out. But Stanton was all over a 1-0 slider. A day after Stanton hit a Yankee Stadium special – a 358-foot homer that barely made it to the right field seats – there was no question about this one, which he smoked 437 feet to left. Pivetta knew it was gone as soon as it left his bat.
The game-winning shot further cemented Stanton’s struggles against the Red Sox as a narrative of the past. After producing just two extra base hits in his first 16 games against the Red Sox last season, Stanton has turned into a machine against his division rival, with homers in six consecutive games dating back to last season.
Other takeaways from Saturday’s loss:
Missed chances
The Red Sox’ lineup should be their greatest strength this season, but a series of missed offensive opportunities have come back to bite them in both of their two losses to start the season. They failed to add on to their one-run lead in the sixth on Friday when Christian Vazquez struck out with the bases loaded. On Saturday, they were 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position.
Their best chance came in the fourth. Alex Verdugo – who hit a two-run homer to give the Sox an early 2-0 lead – led off with a single to chase Yankees starters Luis Severino from the game. But they couldn’t do any damage against Yankees rookie Ron Marinaccio, who was making his major league debut. Trevor Story worked a walk to put two runners on with no outs, but Bobby Dalbec and Vazquez each struck out and they couldn’t rally.
Story recorded his first career Red Sox with a double in the second, but the bottom of the lineup went down in order.
OF making its mark
Alex Cora said in the spring that the Red Sox’ outfield defense had the chance to be elite. So far, he’s being proven right.
A day after Verdugo made two impressive sliding catches in left field, his outfield mates joined him. First, it was Jackie Bradley Jr. With two outs in the bottom of the second, Joey Gallo hit a rocket off the right field wall. But his decision to stretch it to a double was badly misinformed. Bradley Jr. swiftly picked up the ball barehanded, turned and fired a throw to second that was off line but still there in plenty of time to cut down Gallo.
Kiké Hernandez followed suit in the fourth inning. Aaron Judge hit a deep drive to center, but it had enough hang time for Hernandez to get under it and make a perfectly-timed leap to rob the Yankees slugger for a 411foot fly out.
Bogaerts returns
Xander Bogaerts didn’t miss any time.
The Red Sox shortstop – who injured his hamstring late in Friday’s Opening Day loss to the Yankees – was back in the lineup for Game 2 of the season on Saturday at Yankee Stadium and went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts in the loss.
Bogaerts hurt his hamstring when he hit a goahead RBI single in the 10th inning on Friday and immediately left the game. But after going through tests on Friday and going through pregame warmups on Saturday, the Red Sox were confident in letting him play. The lineup was released less than an hour before first pitch with Bogaerts in it.
“He feels he’s OK. He feels he’s, in his words, 130% ready,” Cora told reporters in New York before Bogaerts tested his hamstring. “I told him nobody’s 100% anymore after yesterday. Everybody’s either 99% or less. So we’ll talk about it. We’ll see how he feels. One thing about him, he’s not going to lie to me. He knows how important he is for this team and he knows it’s only game two of 162-plus. That’s what we’re shooting for.”