Life has a way of coming at you very fast. This time last week, the Yankees scooped up their sixth victory in a row after a 7-5 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. The Bombers would go on to win the next day to bring that win streak up to seven and keep their Wild Card hopes alive. The Bronx had not been injected with such enthusiasm and excitement about the Yankees in quite some time, and it seemed like they were ready to be taken on the ride of their lives.
Flash forward one week later and you couldn’t find a more polar opposite situation. The script has been flipped on the Yankees in a matter of days and after Friday night’s 7-4 loss to the rival Boston Red Sox, those Wild Card hopes are dwindling by the minute. The soul-crushing loss on Thursday didn’t help matters at all, and by contrast, Friday night’s matchup felt like a methodical thumping.
Off the bat the Red Sox batters made things difficult for Luis Cessa. Cessa had a rough go in the first inning, inducing lots of contact with his pitches as swing-and-miss stuff was very hard to come by. Boston tagged him for two early runs off the bats of David Ortiz and the hot-hitting Hanley Ramirez a night after he struck the Yankees with a deft blow to the gut with his walk-off homer. Hanley later tacked on another after going deep yet again to centerfield for his 26th long ball of the year.
Youngster Gary Sanchez, who has been regarded as one of the catalysts for this run that the Yankees have been on for the last month cut the deficit to one run after a two-run double in the ensuing inning. That would however prove to be the closest the Yankees would get afterwards as Boston continued to pile it on the young Yankee relievers. It’s hard to shove any vigorous vitriol their way; they have hardly faced such high-leverage situations and are being asked to move boulders during a pennant chase. Them’s are the breaks, of course, after the big bull of the bullpen was used for three consecutive days.
The Play: Sanchez smokes a double (+.178 WPA)
Perhaps amusing if nothing else, the play that provided the biggest impact of the game wound up being Sanchez’s double in the fifth inning. Although the Yankees didn’t wind up coming away with the victory, it still provided a bigger WPA than any other play in the game. Coming in second place was Hanley Ramirez’s first inning single that plated home the Red Sox’s second run of the game.
Notes
— The Yankees fall to 28-33 in games played against divisional opponents this season.
— With Hanley’s 26th homer, Ramirez is now seven shy of his career-high of 33 homers, a mark he set back in 2008. He is three shy of the second-best mark he set back in 2007 (29).
— New York is now 33-39 in road games this season. If they do indeed finish the season under .500 on the road, they would do so for the first time since the 2013 season when they went 39-42.
— The only Yankee to record a multi-hit game on Friday night was rightfielder Mason Williams who went 2-for-3 with a pair of singles.
– New York went 1-for-11 with RISP, while Boston went 4-for-9. The Yankees left eight on base, and the Red Sox left just four.
The Highlight: Heads up, Gardy
Always keep your head on a swivel, kids.
Up Next
New York looks to stop the bleeding and get on the board with a victory on Saturday afternoon in Boston. Bryan Mitchell (1-1, 6.14 ERA) will be on the mound for the Yankees while former Cy Young winner David Price (16-8, 3.81 ERA) will toe the rubber for the Red Sox.
Photo Credit: Bob DeChiara / USA TODAY Sports