Red Sox crush Yankees in first game of series
Designated hitter Justin Turner added six of the Boston Red Sox’s 15 runs via a grand slam and a two-run blast as the Yankees fall in game one.
The struggling Boston Red Sox (35-35) crushed the New York Yankees (39-31) 15-5 in front of 37,086 fans at Fenway Park.
The pinstripes took the lead in the first inning on Anthony Rizzo’s sacrifice ground ball that allowed Jake Bauers to score. However, Boston took the lead in the bottom half of the inning and never looked back with Masataka Yoshida’s double that sent Justin Turner and Rafael Devers across the plate.
The first home run of the night came thanks to Turner in the second. The Red Sox designated hitter drilled one over the ‘Green Monster’ to make it 4-1.
All the Red Sox batted in the third inning; that represented six runs and the short start of Domingo Germán. Four of them came thanks to a Turner grand slam off reliever Matt Krook, who was making his major league debut.
Connor Wong produced two more for the Red Sox in the fourth inning with a powerful line drive to right field and then was brought home on a Pablo Reyes single to left field.
To start the fifth, Kyle Higashioka hit a line drive straight into the face of pitcher Tanner Houck, knocking the Red Sox starter out of the game. Joe Jacques took over on the mound, allowing the Yankees to make the most of the situation and score three runs in the sixth.
Triston Casas added the Red Sox’s fourteenth run by sending Masataka Yoshida home with a hard ground ball to second base that Gleyber Torres couldn’t control.
Josh Donaldson recorded his sixth home run of the season, and fifth run for the ‘Bronx Bombers,’ when he hit a cutter off Corey Kluber in the eighth inning. The Red Sox did not take their foot off the accelerator and Casas chalked up Boston’s 15th run with a double that hit the ‘Green Monster’.
Brennan Bernardino was in charge of closing the game for the locals. The first two outs of the ninth were made thanks to a double play after a walk to Anthony Volpe and a weak ground ball by Jake Bauers. Finally, the 27th and final out went via a routine 4-3 on a soft roller from Giancarlo Stanton.