Seventh heaven for Yankees in sweep of first London Series
Nine-run inning turns the tables on Red Sox MLB debut in Britain hailed as ‘huge event’
Mark the first London Series down as a sweep for the New York Yankees. After trailing through the first six innings yesterday, they produced a crushing nine-run seventh inning on their way to a 12-8 victory over the Boston Red Sox.
Following Saturday’s run-fest, initially this was more of a study of the sport’s more tactical aspects, until the Yankees, having seen off Red Sox starter Eduardo Rodriguez, decided to punish Boston’s miserable bullpen pitchers.
The Red Sox might have put up late rallies in both games, but the weekend rightly belonged to the Yankees, 17-13 winners on Saturday, who have now come out on top in 13 of their past 14 games.
“The opportunity to showcase our game over here is great,” Aaron Boone, the Yankees manager, said. “We feel excited to play a little bit of a role in spreading the sport.
“To see the reaction from the venue, the energy in the building was non-stop, both days. It never let up. It felt like a huge event and it was a lot of fun to be a part of.”
Those in attendance for the second game of the inaugural London Series will have been grateful the temperature was not as hot as on Saturday. They would have arrived wondering whether there would be as many runs. Saturday’s near fivehour contest was a gluttonous affair when it came to scoring, with a dozen on the board before we had even said goodbye inning (of nine).
Yesterday it was Boston’s turn to take the initiative. Rodriguez quickly dispatched the Yankees openers, including leading star Aaron Judge, before back-to-back home runs by Xander Bogaerts and J.D. Martinez, followed by a third from Christian Vazquez, put the Red Sox 4-0 ahead.
The Yankees did have a chance to hit back in the second inning, with the bases loaded and no outs, yet were forced to settle for two runs from Edwin Encarnacion and Dutch shortstop Didi Gregorius.
Major League Baseball’s debut on these shores has been a hitting showcase, while lacking a high standard of pitching. Rodriguez’s efforts for Boston were a welcome
‘The opportunity to showcase our game over here is great. We feel excited to spread the sport’
to the first exception, allowing only three hits through his first four innings.
Luis Cessa was similarly effective pitching for the Yankees. This was baseball for the purists, with no runs in the third or fourth inning, but plenty of little moments to savour, including a comical fielding error when Jackie Bradley Jnr’s aborted base steal led to a mix-up between the Yankees players, the ball somehow escaping as Bradley safely found second base.
No runs between the third and sixth innings underlined that the pitchers were in charge, with the Yankees left needing a breakthrough heading into the seventh.
DJ Lemahieu delivered with a strike towards the right-hand corner to advance to second base. Judge joined him with a walk to first. Was this the moment? Enter Aaron Hicks, who after recovering from an 85mph whack to the back of a leg from pitcher Marcus Walden, doubled to right field for Lemahieu to score. Gary Sanchez followed suit, driving to left field this time for Judge and Hicks to get home, putting New York 5-4 ahead.
With pitcher Matt Barnes struggling to find a way out of the inning for the Red Sox, up stepped Gio Urshela for the Yankees with the bases loaded. A drive to left centre saw both Sanchez and Encarnacion home, taking the inning’s total for the Yankees to five runs.
Boston changed pitchers again searching for a solution but to no avail, Brett Gardner walking to leave the bases loaded once more. Lemahieu capitalised, whacking the ball towards the right-hand foul pole. The ball stayed fair, with Gleyber Torres and Urshela both scoring, with Gardner not far behind.
Finally, a calamitous misfield from Michael Chavis at first base summed up Boston’s misery, allowing Lemahieu also to score. A 2-4 deficit for New York had been flipped into an 11-4 lead. Seventh (inning) heaven for the Yankees.
Gregorius then appeared to have sealed the victory for the Yankees with a home run to right centre before a late Boston surge, scoring four runs in the eighth inning. It was not meant to be, with Boston paying the price for their earlier lack of firepower out of the bullpen.
There are certainly some tweaks to be made for when MLB returns to the London Stadium in 2020. And yet this weekend was unquestionably a successful debut, with the 100,000-plus fans in attendance all thoroughly entertained.