Carlos Rodon had a stinky first 2 innings, as Boston peppered him with 4 doubles — 3 of them off the Green Monster — to put the Yanks in a 5-2 hole.
Rodon figured it out, pitching a shutout 3rd thru 5th inning, but the Yanks could never quite crawl out of the 5-2 hole in an 8-4 loss at Fenway on a Saturday night.
The Yanks pulled to within 6-4 by the 8th inning, but Boston put 2 on the board in the bottom of the 8th to put it away.
“I just left some balls over the middle; heart of the plate,” said Rodon afterwards. “First at bat of the game, ahead 0-2 just didn’t finish with the slider; left it out over, good swing by him, put it off the wall; started the game off with a double. I was ahead and should have buried that slider.”
“A lot of instances like that tonite where they hit some balls off the wall — I mean they hit some balls really hard off me. I just didn’t get to the area I wanted to. I wish I could have figured it out sooner.”
NY falls to 50-23, and are 2.5 ahead of Baltimore in the AL East. Boston improves to 36-35, in 3rd place, 13 games behind but only 2.5 out of a wild card.
1. Rodon Stinky to Start
Rodon allowed a double to left by lefty leftfielder Jarren Duran on an 0-2 pitch to start the game, then allowed a 1-out RBI double off the left field wall by Tyler O’Neill, walked Rafael Devers, and allowed an RBI single to center by Connor Wong to make it 2-0 Boston.
O’Neill starts us off early! pic.twitter.com/Tgg22mKQMP
— Red Sox (@RedSox) June 15, 2024
Rodon got Masataka Yoshida to fly out for the 2nd out, but Jamie Westbrook hit another double off the left field wall — the 3rd of the inning — for a 3-0 Boston lead.
The Yanks came back with 2 runs in the top of the 2nd to make it 3-2, but Rodon put them in more of a hole in the bottom of the 2nd — a leadoff single by shortstop Ceddane Rafaela, and then with 2 outs, a single by O’Neill, and a double to center by Devers for a 5-2 game.
“Just left like he was in the heart of the plate a lot. I thought his stuff was good. They put some really good at bats against him and were making really good contact, but a lot of them right in the center in the heart of the plate. So just not getting those pitches exactly where he wanted to. Settled in, and really got efficient those last 3 innings, and gutted his way through 5 innings for us.”
2. LeMahieu Clutch 2-RBI Single
The Yanks tried to help Rodon — scoring 2 in the top of the 2nd after Rodon had allowed 3 in the bottom of the 1st. The Yanks worked Boston starter Cooper Criswell — Giancarlo Stanton starting the 2nd with a single, Anthony Rizzo following with a walk, and after a groundout by Gleyber Torres and strikeout of Austin Wells, DJ LeMahieu laced a clutch, 2-out single to center for a 3-2 game.
LeMachine drives in 2 ? pic.twitter.com/qJgb0ILu33
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) June 15, 2024
3. Yanks Waste Bases Loaded in 5th
The Yankees didn’t score any more on Criswell but did work his pitch count up to the point where he was removed after 4 innings at 88 pitches. The Yanks then worked reliever Justin Slaten, who is the Red Sox primary middle reliever this year.
DJ LeMahieu got on due to an error by shortstop Ceddane Rafaela to lead off the 5th, and after Volpe hit into a fielder’s choice, Juan Soto and Aaron Judge worked walks to load the bases with 1 out — and send up yesterday’s hero Alex Verdugo.
But Verdugo hit a grounder to 1st and the throw home got Volpe, and then Stanton struck out to end the threat.
4. Soto HR in 7th
Juan Soto got the Yanks to within 5-3 with a homer to center off Slaten in the 7th — the ball was called a double in play at 1st, but on review it was ruled a homer.
Soto sends one out ? pic.twitter.com/KA3HMznzA3
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) June 16, 2024
5. Marinaccio Pitched 2 Innings; Yielded Run
Ron Marinaccio came in for the 6th and got into immediate trouble with a leadoff walk and bunt single — but then struck out the next 2 guys and got a fly out to end the threat.
Marinaccio pitched the 7th as well, and got the first 2 batters before yielding a double to Yoshida and an RBI single to Valdez to make it 6-3 Boston.
6. Yanks Make It 6-4 Off Weissert in 8th
The Yanks faced old friend Greg Weissert in the 8th. Weissert is “the other guy” in the Alex Verdugo trade — the pitcher NY traded to Boston to get Verdugo. Weissert is doing well for Boston with a 2-1 3.07 record as a mainstay in their pen.
Giancarlo Stanton struck out to begin the inning, but Anthony Rizzo and Gleyber Torres worked walks, and Austin Wells singled to center to load the bases with 1 out in a 6-3 game.
DJ LeMahieu grounded into a fielder’s choice to shortstop, scoring the run to make it 6-4.
With runners on 1st and 3rd, 2 outs — Boston brought in ace reliever Kenley Jansen — and he got Anthony Volpe to fly out to right.
7. Jansen Saves It
Down 8-4, the Yanks heart of the order — Soto, Judge, and Verdugo — went out 1-2-3 to Jansen — fly out, fly out, line out — in the 9th for the old ballgame.
Be the first to comment