Yanks rally from behind for 6-4 win over Red Sox

Source: FanGraphs

Two innings in, this game had a very “here we go again” vibe to it. Another frustrating and disappointing loss was in the cards. But that didn’t happen. The Yankees rallied early and tacked on runs late for a 6-4 win over the Red Sox on Saturday afternoon, getting a sorely needed win against a last place team. Those have been hard to come by this last week. Let’s recap:

• Early Hole: They could have saved a lot of time if they started every Red Sox at-bat with a 2-0 count in the first two innings. Shane Greene was behind everyone early on, and it came back to bite him in the second when Mike Napoli hit a monster two-run homer in a 2-0 count. It was one of the farthest balls I’ve ever seen hit in Fenway. No-doubter is an understatement. The Sox scored another run on a pair of singles (Xander Bogaerts and Christian Vazquez) and a ground out (Jackie Bradley Jr.) later in the inning. Greene settled down and retired seven of the next eight batters he faced, but his pitch count caught up to him and he was done after 4.2 innings. Not his best outing by any stretch, though he didn’t let things unravel after that second inning.
• Soft Rally: The Yankees answered Boston’s three-run bottom of the second with a four-run top of the third despite hitting zero balls hard. Allen Webster gift-wrapped the rally by walking the bases loaded with no outs, then Derek Jeter blooped a double to right to score the first two runs. I don’t know how that pitch didn’t break his bat. Jeter’s made a career out of pulling his hands in and fighting those pitches off the other way. Jacoby Ellsbury plated another run with a ground out and Carlos Beltran drove in the fourth run of the inning with a dinky little single to center. Webster walked the next two batters but Martin Prado grounded out with the bases loaded the end the inning. I’m pretty sure the hardest hit ball that inning was Prado’s grounder. Well-placed, not well-hit.
• Tack-Ons: Four runs was not going to cut it, so the Yankees did us all a favor and tacked on some insurance runs in the fifth (Mark Teixeira homer) and seventh (Stephen Drew double) innings. Teixeira’s was a bomb off lefty Craig Breslow while Beltran was on second for Drew’s double thanks to a ground-rule double over the short wall in right. Drew’s double was a rocket to right-center. He smoked another ball to the warning track in right later in the game that would have been a homer in Yankee Stadium. Stretching that 4-3 lead into a 6-3 lead turned out to be pretty damn important.
• Hang On: With Greene out so early, Joe Girardi turned to his four relief aces right away. Shawn Kelley entered with two outs in the fifth and retired all four men he faced, three on strikeouts. Adam Warren struggled again, allowing a walk (Brock Holt) and a single (Dustin Pedroia) with one out before being lifted in favor of Dellin Betances. David Ortiz hit a sac fly to score the run — Brett Gardner almost threw Holt out at the plate but Frankie Cervelli couldn’t handle the ball, the throw was there in plenty of time — but otherwise Betances retired all five men he faced. PitchFX says he averaged 99.2 mph and topped out at 101.1 mph (!) in the game. Hot damn. David Robertson pitched around a two-out single for his 28th save in 30 chances. Phew.
• Leftovers: Chase Headley went 1-for-4 with a walk and he’s been playing the hell outta third base lately. One standout defensive play after another … Gardner (two walks), Jeter (single, double), Teixeira (single, homer), Beltran (single, double), Headley (single, walk), Drew (double, two walks), Prado (single, walk), and Cervelli (single, walk) all reached base twice … Drew lost track of the count and got picked off second in the seventh because he started walking back to the dugout following strike two to Cervelli … the Yankees had more walks (seven) than strikeouts (five) for the 12th time this year, the second most in baseball … the Yankees have now played 13 straight games decided by no more than two runs, a franchise record.

MLB.com has the box score and video highlights, FanGraphs some nerdier stats, and ESPN the updated standings. The Mariners won while the Orioles and Blue Jays lost, so the Yankees are five games back in the AL East and 2.5 games back of the second wildcard spot. FanGraphs puts their postseason odds at 16.6% with 53 games to go. David Phelps and Clay Buchholz will be the pitching matchup in Sunday night’s series finale.