The New York Yankees find themselves in an opportunity to sweep the Boston Red Sox in a key three game series at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts this weekend. The Yankees and Red Sox entered the three game set in striking distance of the first place Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East, but in the last two games, the Yankees have delivered two key victories, and the Red Sox are now 5.5 games back.
Friday’s win
This game was only seen on Apple TV, and not available to those who just have cable television. The Yankees won by a score of 4-1, and built some momentum after their 9-3 win over the Detroit Tigers on Thursday night at Yankee Stadium.
It was a solid pitching performance from Yankees starting pitcher Luis Gil of Azua Province, Dominican Republic. He threw six shutout innings and did not give up a single hit. Gil did walk four Red Sox batters and had four strikeouts. He did have excellent control, as of the 93 pitches, 54 pitches were strikes. Reliever Devin Williams of St. Louis, Missouri came into get the hold, and closer David Bednar of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania recorded his 23rd save of the season.
Offensively, the Yankees opened the scoring on a first inning home run by Aaron Judge. The designated hitter from Linden, California hit his 47th home run of the season. That is fourth most in the Major Leagues. The only three players with more home runs are Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh of Cullowhee, North Carolina (53), Philadelphia Phillies left fielder Kyle Schwarber of Middletown, Ohio (51), and Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter/pitcher Shohei Ohtani of Mizusawa, Japan (49).
The Yankees have been sloppy defensively this season, but so have the Red Sox. They lead the Majors with 108 errors. On Friday, Boston made three errors. One was a throwing error by David Hamilton, which led to a run by Jose Caballero of Las Tablas, Panama.
Saturday’s win
The Yankees won the second game of the series 5-3. It was a strong game for Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. of Nassau, Bahamas, who collected three hits in five at bats. One of the hits was a home run. He also had a team high three runs batted in, as his singles earlier in the game each cashed in runs. On the mound, Max Fried of Santa Monica, California collected his 17th win of the season and gave up two earned runs in 5 1/3 innings.
