A sixth-inning homer from Bobby Dalbec ended up being the difference-maker Sunday night, as the Boston Red Sox beat the New York Yankees, 4-3, to grab their first win of the season.
Kutter Crawford pitched a crucial two innings out of the Sox bullpen in just his third MLB outing, which was followed by a scoreless inning by both Hansel Robles and Jake Diekman in the eighth and ninth to close it out. Boston’s bullpen now has 14 innings of work this season where they’ve let up just one run.
After back-to-back singles from Rafael Devers and Xander Bogaerts, J.D. Martinez (RBI double) and Christian Arroyo (sac fly) put Boston up 2-0 in the first inning. Jonathan Arauz would sac fly Alex Verdugo home in the fourth to make it 3-1.
Tanner Houck got out of a bases-loaded jam in the first but wasn’t as fortunate in the third and fourth inning. Giancarlo Stanton singled home a run to get New York on the board in the third, though a double play did get him out of another bases-loaded jam.
But, after a pair of hits from Isaiah Kiner-Falefa and Jose Trevino began the fourth inning for the Yankees, and with Houck already at 78 pitches, Ryan Brasier was summoned on to relieve Houck with one out. Brasier’s wild pitch though prompted runners to move over to second and third before a two-run single from Anthony Rizzo tied it up at 3-3 — and both runs were credited to Houck.
But, Dalbec’s 391-foot solo homer off Clarke Schmidt that led off the top frame of the sixth gave Boston the 4-3 lead, and Boston held on to their lead through the bullpen’s strong 5.2 innings.
Diekman, who has just 14 saves in his career — though he did notch seven last season, shut down the Yankees’ stacked middle of the order of Aaron Judge (11-pitch at-bat), Stanton, and Joey Gallo 1-2-3 as he struck out all three.
Boston looks ahead to a three-game series in Detroit where they’ll face old friend Eduardo Rodriguez. Tomorrow will be MIchael Wacha vs. Matt Manning.
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