Sale strong, bullpen shaky as Red Sox outlast Yankees
BOSTON» Chris Sale struck out eight for his first postseason win, J.D. Martinez hit a threerun homer and the Boston Red Sox sweated out their shaky bullpen to hold off the New York Yankees 54 on Friday night in Game 1 of the AL Division Series.
One year after he was pounded by Houston in his playoff debut, Sale took a fourhit shutout into the sixth inning. The Yankees loaded the bases in the sixth and seventh, cutting the deficit to 53. Aaron Judge homered off Craig Kimbrel leading off the ninth before the Red Sox closer retired the next three batters, striking out Giancarlo Stanton and Luke Voit for the save.
Game 2 in the bestoffive series is Saturday night, with Boston starting another pitcher trying to overcome a history of postseason struggles: lefthander David Price is 08 as a starter in the playoffs. He’ll face Yankees righty Masahiro Tanaka.
In the first playoff matchup between the longtime rivals since 2004, the 108win Red Sox took a 50 lead against Yankees starter J.A. Happ and then whiteknuckled it after Sale left with two on and one out in the sixth.
New York, which won 100 regularseason games plus the AL wildcard game against Oakland, got three singles and two walks in the sixth, scoring two before Brandon Workman — the only player on the Red Sox roster with a World Series ring — struck out Gleyber Torres.
The Yankees loaded the bases with nobody out in the seventh but scored just one run. Boston manager Alex Cora used scheduled Game 3 starter Rick Porcello to get two outs in the eighth before turning to Kimbrel for a fourout save.
“This is what I envisioned,” said J.D. Martinez, who signed with the Red Sox as a free agent last offseason. “I think this is what MLB and baseball wanted to see, what baseball fans all over the world wanted to see.”
Boston fans were ready, with derisive chants for the Yankees during introductions.
The Red Sox made it 50 in the third when Mookie Betts doubled off the leftfield wall and Andrew Benintendi chased Happ with a bunt single that moved the runner to third. Steve Pearce singled in one run and another scored on Xander Bogaerts’ sacrifice fly.
Sale left with a 50 lead after giving up singles to Judge and Stanton in the sixth; both came around to score. In all, Sale was charged with two runs on five hits and two walks in 5 L innings — the longest playoff outing for a Red Sox starter since 2013.
Martinez and Benintendi each had two hits for Boston. Judge had three hits and Voit had two for New York, which went 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position.
Happ lasted just two innings for his shortest postseason start, allowing five runs on four hits and a walk while striking out two. Colorado 2, Chicago 1, 13 innings New York 7, Oakland 2 (Bestof5; xif necessary) All games on TBS Friday: Boston 5, Yankees 4 Saturday: New York at Boston, 6:15 p.m.
Monday: Boston at New York, 5:40 p.m., TBS xTuesday: Boston at New York, 6:07 p.m., TBS xThursday, Oct. 11: New York at Boston, 5:40 p.m., TBS Friday: Houston 7, Cleveland 2 Saturday: Cleveland at Houston , 2:37 p.m.
Monday: Houston at Cleveland, 11:30 a.m., TBS xTuesday: Houston at Cleveland, 2:35 p.m., TBS xThursday, Oct. 11: Cleveland at Houston, 2:07 p.m., TBS (Bestof5; xif necessary) FS1 and MLB Network