The Yankees scored seven runs in the first two innings, including home runs from Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Anthony Volpe, and got three hits from Aaron Judge in a 9-6 win over the Boston Red Sox on Friday night in The Bronx.
New York scored eight of its nine runs with two outs and had the chances for a lot more, leaving 10 runners on base and going 3-for-15 with runners in scoring position through seven frames. And that left the door open for Boston to chisel a seven-run deficit down to three entering the eighth. But the bullpen combined to get the final six outs on 24 pitches, allowing just two base runners.
The Yankees improved to 39-23 on the year and dropped the Red Sox to 30-35.
Here are the takeaways…
– Ahead of the game, manager Aaron Boone said the key for his batters was to let Red Sox Starter Walker Buehler work the edges, but “get him on the plate and hit our pitches.”
The Yanks did that in the first as Judge laced a hustle double into the left-center gap (113.2 mph off the bat) to put runners at second and third after Trent Grisham’s leadoff walk. Cody Bellinger smashed a fastball (103.7 mph) but right at Boston’s shortstop for the first out, before Paul Goldschmidt was caught looking on a ball that looked just off the outside corner.
Chisholm Jr. cashed in, smoking a low knuckle curve 417 feet to center for a three-run homer. The 105.8 mph shot hit the top of the wall and kicked over. After Jasson Dominguez smacked a single (104 mph) to right, Volpe got a 2-1 fastball out over the plate and barreled it (101.8 mph) for a 369-foot opposite-field blast for a 5-0 first-inning advantage.
After Judge cracked a one-out single in the second, Goldschmidt reached on a two-out error on a throw from third baseman Marcelo Mayer, the Red Sox’s 56th defensive miscue through 65 games. Chisholm notched his fourth two-out RBI of the game by muscling a jam shot over the first baseman’s head for a single.
After Dominguez walked to load the bases, Volpe was hit on the left elbow on a 2-2 pitch to bring home another run. The shortstop got a long look from the training staff, and stayed in the game to run. (But he was lifted for the top of the fourth with a left elbow contusion.) Austin Wells’ bat shattered with a first-pitch slider off his hands, and the soft pop-up was grabbed by a charging, tumbling Trevor Story from short to leave ‘em loaded.
