Chris Sale Looks Like Chris Sale In Red Sox 5-4 Win
There was reason to be pessimistic about Boston Red Sox left-hander Chris Sale entering Game 1 of the ALDS.
It only took one inning to realize what type of Chris Sale the Red Sox would be getting to begin the postseason vs their hated rivals.
The Boston Red Sox defeated the New York Yankees 5-4 on Friday night at Fenway Park in Game 1 of the ALDS to take a 1-0 series lead.
Fireworks and high drama were expected at the beginning of the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees’ first playoff matchup in 14 years, and Game 1 wouldn’t disappoint.
Chris Sale (1-0), making just his second career playoff start, would give Boston a strong start while silencing his skeptics.
Sale would go five and a third innings vs the New York Yankees on Friday, allowing two earned runs on six hits and two walks while striking out eight.
Chris Sale would be backed by an early offensive outburst by the MLB’s best offensive team team in 2018.
Boston’s victory wasn’t without trouble, as the Red Sox bullpen would produce a troubling outing vs the New York Yankees power hitting lineup.
Chris Sale would open the first inning by striking out three of the four Yankee hitters he faced, firing up an already hot and loud Fenway Crowd.
The Boston Red Sox would jump out to a 3-0 lead in the quickly in Game 1 of this highly anticipated series after J.D. Martinez hit a three-run home run off Yankees’ left-hander J.A. Happ with one out in the first inning.
The homer by Martinez after a single by Andrew Benintendi and a walk by Steve Pearce with one out after Happ retired Mookie Betts to kick off the inning.
Just as they had done throughout their franchise record 108-win season, the Red Sox offensive machine would not slow down.
The Red Sox would tag the Yankees newly inserted reliever Chad Green in the third inning for two inherited runs by Happ as Steve Pierce’s RBI single and Xander Bogaerts’ RBI sacrifice fly would give Boston a 5-0 lead in the third inning.
Chris Sale would be in a groove vs the Bombers fearsome lineup, using a fastball that sat around 95 most of the night to get ahead of hitters before freezing them with his almost unhittable slider at the knees for called strike threes.
New York would watch innings go by without doing much of anything vs Sale until the sixth inning.
Singles by Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton in the sixth inning with a rising pitch count would lead to Alex Cora going to his bullpen.
Sale would leave the mound to cheers as he walked off disappointingly having put runners on base.
The Yankees would get both of those runs across to score in the inning, giving themselves some life in a 5-2 game.
New York’s highly touted and formidable bullpen would keep the Red Sox off the scoreboard over the final five innings, setting the stage for a comeback.
The Yankees would get a run in the seventh inning after a RBI groundout by rookie first baseman Luke Voit made it a 5-3 game.
The Yankees had changed the tenure of a game looking on the precipice of turning into a blowout into a game they had an opportunity to steal.
Facing off against Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel to begin the ninth, Aaron Judge would send the boom to Fenway Park with a home run blast to right field which would inch the Yankees to within a run at 5-4.
Kimbrel, now with even more pressure on him, would meet the Yankees challenge. The hard throwing closer would blow away Brett Gardner with a strikeout on five pitches. Giancarlo Stanton would be next, and he’d be victimized as Kimbrel froze Stanton on a 0-2 knuckle curveball.
Down to their final out, Luke Voit would be unable to catch up to a 2-2 heater from Kimbrel as the Red Sox clinched Game 1 of the ALDS.
There were questions coming into the postseason if Boston’s season would fall short of expectations.
Much of that had to do with Chris Sale, who since the All-Star break had been mostly sidelined with shoulder inflammation in his throwing shoulder that resulted in two DL stints, his second being a lengthy one.
Sale would be limited in his return back to the Red Sox as a precaution weeks ahead of the playoffs, and his last start — a start where his fastball sat around 90 mph — would leave pundits questioning the seriousness of Boston’s postseason chances.
With Sale’s performance on Friday, those pundits are for now silenced as Sale mostly knifed through and kept arguably the MLB’s scariest offensive team at bay as he has done throughout his entire career.
What’s worrisome for Red Sox skipper Alex Cora moving forward is the way the bullpen looked, particularly in the final three innings as the Yankees would get five hits and eight Yankees would reach base safely.
It wasn’t only that the bullpen looked vulnerable, wild pitches by Ryan Brasier and Matt Barnes nearly led to big innings for New York.
For the New York Yankees, those big innings never came with opportunity after opportunity going down the drain.
New York would hit 1-for-7 with RISP on the night, blowing a bases loaded with no outs situation in the top of the seventh inning as they came away with only a run out of what was a 5-2 game when the inning began. In total, 10 Yankees would be left on base in the game.
Aaron Boone’s team won’t win this series by faltering in big moments and dear I say, choking when it counts.
Starting pitching was a weakness of the Yankees in a 100-win season and that reared its ugly head in Game 1.
J.A. Happ (0-1) didn’t give the Yankees a chance to grab a early edge over the Red Sox as he gave up the big bomb in the first inning before being forced to exit the game after two innings.
A game of much significance, Boston will walk away with a 1-0 series lead feeling a sense of relief and survival while New York will lament their blown chances.
The Boston Red Sox will call on left-hander David Price in Game 2 of the ALDS vs the New York Yankees who will counter with right-hander Masahiro Tanaka.
First pitch at Fenway Park for Game 2 of the ALDS is scheduled for 8:15 pm/ET.
What are your thoughts on the Boston Red Sox Game 1 victory? Leave your comments below!