The New York Yankees came into this series on a high note, winning both games they played against the Orioles after being scheduled to play the Phillies. The Yankees looked to take advantage of the lackluster Sox pitching this past weekend.
GAME 1: 5-1 W
Jordan Montgomery who hadn’t made a start since his Tommy John Surgery in 2018 got the ball for the Yankees, and he struck out the first batter he faced, then got the next two guys to ground out to end his first inning of work. Montgomery retired the first six batters he faced until he left one up to second year man Michael Chavis, and Chavis didn’t miss it, which gave the Sox a 1-0 lead. After that Montgomery settled in and went 5.2 innings, allowing just that 1 run on 5 hits, while also striking out 5. A very impressive start from Montgomery in his first appearance in a while. The bats got going after the Chavis solo homerun, as in the bottom of the 3rd Aaron Judge hit a 2-run homerun to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead, that was also Judge’s third straight game with a homerun. Later on in the game, in the 4th inning Gio Urshela hit an opposite field homerun to extend the Yankees lead to 3-1, that was Gio’s first homerun of the year after a very promising 2019 campaign it was good to see Gio get one. Onto the bottom of the 8th inning where Brett Gardner finally gets going as he hit a towering shot to right field which made the score 5-1, which was the final score to game 1.
GAME 2: 5-2 W
Onto game 2 of the series where Masahiro Tanaka who got struck with a line drive from Giancarlo Stanton during summer camp took the bump for the Yankees, and in his first inning of work Tanaka had 2 strikeouts, allowed a soft hit single, and got a fly out. Moving to the bottom half of the inning, Aaron Judge launched a homerun to left center field off of Zack Godley to notch his 4th straight game with a homerun! In the second inning Tanaka did more of the same as he did in the first inning as he stranded a runner of first, then in the bottom half of the inning the bases were loaded for Gio Urshela who hit one that hit the top of the center field wall and bounced over for a grand slam! that made it 5-0 Yankees in the 2nd inning and that is all Tanaka needed as he fired 2.2 innings of 1 earned ball notching 3 strikeouts as well, Tanaka then turned the ball over to the bullpen as Aaron Boon used, Luis Avilan, Nick Nelson who made his ML Debut and didn’t upset as he fired 3 innings, striking out 4 and allowing 0 hits, Nelson also struck out the first batter he faced on just THREE pitches. Avilan fired 1.1 inning of 0 hit 2 strikeout ball, a good outing for him as well. After Nelson, Boone turned to David Hale out of the pen who surprisingly tossed 2 innings, 2 hits, 0 run ball striking out 3. Many Yankee fans were wondering why Tommy Kahnle wasn’t used, and it was annouced after the game that he wasn’t available due to a UCL problem and that he would likely need Tommy John Surgery….Get well soon Tommy!!
GAME 3: 9-7 W
Onto game 3 where James Paxton got the ball, looking for a bounce back start after only going 1 inning in his previous start vs the Nats. It was clear early that the Yankees needed to hit tonight as Paxton set down the first two batters but allowed a double to J.D. Martinez and then a 2-run homerun to the very next batter Xander Bogaerts who was torching the Yankees all series long with his bat and his glove. The Yankees faced Austin Brice who is the first ever MLB player to be born in Hong Kong, and the Yankees failed to capitalize on an error from Jose Peraza early in the game. Onto the bottom half of the 2nd inning where Aaron Judge would crush a ball into the second deck in left field to get the Yankees on the board and it just so happened to be a 3-run homerun, as Aaron Judge tied Alex Rodriguez for hitting a homerun in 5 STRAIGHT games! After that Paxton didnt have his stuff as he allows another 3 runs to the Red Sox now a 5-3 Red Sox lead. Gio Urshela went 3/4 tonight with an RBI, also Gary got a big RBI double to tie the game at 5. Later on in the game with the Yankees down 6-5, Luke Voit hit a line drive homerun to left field to tie it up. Michael King served up a solo HR to Rafael Devers to give the Red Sox the 7-6 lead, Michael King went 3.2 innings allowing 2 runs on 2 hits, striking out 4. After King, Ottavino came in and tossed 1.1 inning allowing 1 hit and striking out 2. In the bottom of the 8th, down 1, D.J. LeMahieu hit a single to tie up the game which scored Mike Tauchman who walked and then stole second all with 2 outs. After that LeMahieu single, Aaron Judge came up and he LAUNCHED one to left center field seats over the bullpen to give the Yankees a 9-7 lead, and that’s all Zack Britton needed as he cam in and got 2 groundouts along with a strikeout to seal the game!
