How Red Sox Shut Down Elite Yankees Lineup In Game 1
Sometimes, you have to fight fire with fire.
That’s exactly what the Boston Red Sox did against the New York Yankees in Game 1 of the AL Wild Card Series on Tuesday. The Red Sox edged the Yankees, 3-1, thanks to some timely hitting and magnificent pitching.
Boston shut down New York’s superior lineup, limiting the Yankees to just one run on seven hits and no walks. Six of those hits were singles, and New York struck out 13 times.
It was a surprisingly quiet night at Yankee Stadium for a potent Yankees attack that led MLB in runs per game (5.24), home runs (274), walks (639), slugging percentage (.455) and OPS (.787) during the regular season. New York scored its lone run on Anthony Volpe’s solo homer in the second, but failed to muster much offense after that, allowing the Red Sox to come back and win after Max Fried departed in the seventh.
Boston’s two pitchers — Garrett Crochet and Aroldis Chapman — simply overpowered the Yankees with their elite velocity. Of their 141 pitches (97 of which were strikes), 36 were clocked at 98 mph or faster. By comparison, New York threw just one pitch that fast.
There was no letup. Crochet’s 117th and final pitch of the evening — which caught Austin Wells looking for his 11th strikeout — zoomed in at 100.2 mph, tying Crochet’s fastest pitch of the season.
Alex Cora finished the game with his flamethrowing closer, who throws even harder than Crochet. With the bases loaded and nobody out in the bottom of the ninth, Chapman topped 100 mph on 10 of his final 13 pitches, retiring Giancarlo Stanton, Jazz Chisholm and Trent Grisham to get out of the jam.
Want to beat the Yankees? Don’t let them hit the ball.