BRONX — The Red Sox dropped Game 1 of a seven-inning doubleheader Tuesday, as a three-run fifth inning gave the Yankees the lead, and they never looked back.
Andrew Velazquez gave New York the 2-0 lead in the second, with a two-RBI single. But the Sox would answer right back in the third, as Xander Bogaerts slapped a two-RBI single of his own into left field to tie the ballgame up.
Tanner Houck was solid, tossing four strong innings although he struck out just two. He ran into some more trouble in the fourth allowing two singles, but got out of it and ended his 58-pitch outing with a flyout.
Christian Vazquez crushed a solo homer into the left field seats 409 feet to give the Sox the 3-2 lead in the top of the fifth.
Garrett Whitlock had the bottom of the fifth, but it wasn’t an ideal performance against his former team. He walked Brett Gardner and Aaron Judge, before Josh Taylor would relieve him. Taylor would walk Joey Gallo though in order to load the bases, and would yield a two-RBI bloop single to Luke Voit which gave the Yankees the 4-3 lead.
Giancarlo Stanton would pinch-hit for Rougned Odor, and New York would pick up an insurance run off Taylor as Stanton lined a 3-0 fastball into center to make it 5-3. Hansel Robles would come in as the third pitcher Boston had used in the inning, as he’d walk Tyler Wade but get out of the inning with a strikeout.
In that fifth inning alone, the Red Sox threw more balls (21) than Houck had thrown through four frames (19).
Austin Davis would load the bases in the sixth, after he replaced Robles. But he would strikeout Jonathan Davis to retire the side.
Kyle Schwarber led off the seventh by beating the shift with a base hit to the left side, and Vazquez added to his day with a base hit into right to put two on with nobody out. Alex Verdugo loaded the bases with another single, and with nobody out and the bases loaded the newly acquired Travis Shaw pinch-hit for Bobby Dalbec.
In his first at-bat with the team in over five years, he lined out, and it wasn’t deep enough for Schwarber to tag up. Kike Hernandez struck out, and Hunter Renfroe struck out to end the ballgame.
(Photo by Adam Hunger/Getty Images)