Devers Dominates as the Red Sox Take Two of Three in the Bronx
Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers continues to kill the New York Yankees with three home runs over the weekend series. Two of these homers came in Sunday night’s rubber match, in which Boston took a 3-0 shutout victory. The Yankees' struggles this season against their rival continued in Sunday’s game, as Boston is 4-2 in six games against the Yankees this season. Boston is looking to make a playoff push, while the struggling Yankees are trying to salvage what was a great start to their season. Let’s take a look at this highly anticipated, highly impactful series.
The Red Sox took a 5-3 victory in the first game of the series on Friday in an extra-inning thriller. New York struck first with a three-run fourth, catapulted by an error on a routine double play turned into an Austin Wells RBI, an Anthony Volpe RBI double and a Trent Grisham sacrifice fly. Fast forward to the ninth, Clay Holmes was one strike away from a save, but Masataka Yoshida threw a wrench in those plans with a game-tying, two-run home run. After Boston blanked the Yankees in the ninth, Ceddanne Rafaela hit a two-run homer in the 10th, propelling them to victory. A real game-changer was when Volpe didn’t run home on a ground ball, which cost New York a run. This, second-handedly, ended up losing them the game.
After a rough Gerrit Cole start, where Devers hit his eighth career home run off the ace, it was all Yankees after that. Yankees rookie first baseman Ben Rice hit a record-breaking three home runs, a leadoff shot, and two three-run shots, giving him seven RBIs on the day. Rice is the first Yankee rookie to hit three home runs in a single game. Alex Verdugo added a two-run homer off his former team, propelling New York to a 14-4 win.
The Yankees seemed to use all their runs on Saturday, as Boston blanked them, 3-0. This game was definitely a pitcher’s duel, as Red Sox starter Kutter Crawford threw seven efficient innings, and Yankees starter Luis Gil went six and two-thirds, allowing one. This one, however, came off the bat of a scorching hot Devers. After a Rafaela homer in the eighth, Devers added yet another home run in the ninth on a pitch way out of the zone.
Devers now has 28 home runs off the Yankees, the most he’s hit off of any team. He also has 16 at Yankee Stadium, setting a Red Sox record. The red-hot Red Sox really might have a shot here at the playoffs, as they are now in the third Wild Card spot. On the other hand, the Yankees have gone ice cold, as they have lost 15 of their last 20 games. This isn’t something Yankees fans hoped for, with the Sox getting hot and the Yankees getting cold, especially with the roster they have constructed. They are set to next face off in the last week of July, as the Yankees look to get back on track and the Red Sox try to keep inching closer to the division lead.
