Post by Admin on Sept 18, 2016 23:54:41 GMT -5
Hanley Ramirez, Red Sox sweep Yankees
Chris Mason
Credit: John Wilcox
Hanley Ramirez is the most dangerous hitter in baseball right now.
Drew Pomeranz turned in another dud but it didn't matter, as Ramirez put the Red Sox on his back and lifted them past the Yankees, 5-4, at Fenway Park Sunday night. The comeback completed the first four-game sweep of the Bronx Bombers since 1990.
Yankees starter CC Sabathia cruised through his first four innings, but made a major mistake with a 4-0 lead in the fifth. With two on and one out, Sabathia snared a liner hit right back back at him. Xander Bogaerts was off the bag at first and it should have gone for an inning-ending double play, but Sabathia airmailed the throw to Billy Butler. The runners wound up on second and third, and white-hot Ramirez stepped to the plate.
Sabathia fell behind Ramirez 3-1, and then the Red Sox designated hitter altered the tenor of the game with one swing of the bat. Sabathia left a slider out over the plate, and Ramirez roped it off a light tower at the top of the Green Monster for a three-run homer. The blast cut the Yankee lead to 4-3. It was Ramirez' 11th homer in his last 21 games.
He wasn't done.
After the Sox tied the game up in the bottom of the sixth, he returned to the batter's box in the seventh to face Tyler Clippard. The Yankees reliever had a 0.47 ERA and had been particularly tough on right-handers, but it didn't matter.
With a full count, Clippard tried to sneak a changeup by Ramirez. The slugger wasn't fooled, and sent the offering over everything in left field for a game-winning home run.
The comeback helped to erase another disappointing outing for Pomeranz. It seemed like the perfect setting for Pomeranz to deliver a bounce back performance.
The left-hander took the mound against a beleaguered Yankees club that the Sox had muscled out of the AL East race with three straight wins to open the series.
Starlin Castro and Jacoby Ellsbury were sidelined with injuries, and the Yanks starting lineup only featured three players with more than 100 games in pinstripes this season.
After a two-inning start against the Orioles last week, Pomeranz was looking to get back on track.
Instead he was chased in the fourth inning.
The ragtag Yankees outfit tagged him for four runs on seven hits, and there was a smattering of boos from the Fenway crowd when manager John Farrell gave him the hook.
The Yanks got on Pomeranz early, as Brett Gardner led the game off with a double. Didi Gregorious singled him home and the visitors were up 1-0 before the Sox came to the plate.
Gary Sanchez added to the lead in the third. Pomeranz left a cutter out over the plate, and the prized Yankees prospect absolutely tattooed it over the Green Monster. The blast had an exit velocity of 112 MPH, Sanchez' hardest hit homer ever.
It was the 13th home run Pomeranz has given up in the 12 starts he's made since being acquired from the Padres.
Donovan Solano, making his Yankees debut, opened the fourth inning with a single. Mason Williams followed with a double, and Pomeranz walked No. 9 hitter Rob Refsnyder to load the bases.
After back-to-back fielder's choices that brought runs home, Pomeranz' night was done. He departed down 4-0, further muddying the back end of the Red Sox rotation.
The bullpen did yeoman's work from there.
Heath Hembree came on in relief and pitched well, stranding an inherited runner and adding a scoreless fifth. Junichi Tazawa followed with a perfect sixth. Brad Ziegler, Robby Scott and Joe Kelly all recorded two late-inning outs, and Koji Uehara earned the save in the ninth. In total they had 5 1/3 scoreless, and lowered their major-league leading ERA in September.
www.bostonherald.com/sports/red_sox/clubhouse_insider/2016/09/hanley_ramirez_red_sox_sweep_yankees
Chris Mason
Credit: John Wilcox
Hanley Ramirez is the most dangerous hitter in baseball right now.
Drew Pomeranz turned in another dud but it didn't matter, as Ramirez put the Red Sox on his back and lifted them past the Yankees, 5-4, at Fenway Park Sunday night. The comeback completed the first four-game sweep of the Bronx Bombers since 1990.
Yankees starter CC Sabathia cruised through his first four innings, but made a major mistake with a 4-0 lead in the fifth. With two on and one out, Sabathia snared a liner hit right back back at him. Xander Bogaerts was off the bag at first and it should have gone for an inning-ending double play, but Sabathia airmailed the throw to Billy Butler. The runners wound up on second and third, and white-hot Ramirez stepped to the plate.
Sabathia fell behind Ramirez 3-1, and then the Red Sox designated hitter altered the tenor of the game with one swing of the bat. Sabathia left a slider out over the plate, and Ramirez roped it off a light tower at the top of the Green Monster for a three-run homer. The blast cut the Yankee lead to 4-3. It was Ramirez' 11th homer in his last 21 games.
He wasn't done.
After the Sox tied the game up in the bottom of the sixth, he returned to the batter's box in the seventh to face Tyler Clippard. The Yankees reliever had a 0.47 ERA and had been particularly tough on right-handers, but it didn't matter.
With a full count, Clippard tried to sneak a changeup by Ramirez. The slugger wasn't fooled, and sent the offering over everything in left field for a game-winning home run.
The comeback helped to erase another disappointing outing for Pomeranz. It seemed like the perfect setting for Pomeranz to deliver a bounce back performance.
The left-hander took the mound against a beleaguered Yankees club that the Sox had muscled out of the AL East race with three straight wins to open the series.
Starlin Castro and Jacoby Ellsbury were sidelined with injuries, and the Yanks starting lineup only featured three players with more than 100 games in pinstripes this season.
After a two-inning start against the Orioles last week, Pomeranz was looking to get back on track.
Instead he was chased in the fourth inning.
The ragtag Yankees outfit tagged him for four runs on seven hits, and there was a smattering of boos from the Fenway crowd when manager John Farrell gave him the hook.
The Yanks got on Pomeranz early, as Brett Gardner led the game off with a double. Didi Gregorious singled him home and the visitors were up 1-0 before the Sox came to the plate.
Gary Sanchez added to the lead in the third. Pomeranz left a cutter out over the plate, and the prized Yankees prospect absolutely tattooed it over the Green Monster. The blast had an exit velocity of 112 MPH, Sanchez' hardest hit homer ever.
It was the 13th home run Pomeranz has given up in the 12 starts he's made since being acquired from the Padres.
Donovan Solano, making his Yankees debut, opened the fourth inning with a single. Mason Williams followed with a double, and Pomeranz walked No. 9 hitter Rob Refsnyder to load the bases.
After back-to-back fielder's choices that brought runs home, Pomeranz' night was done. He departed down 4-0, further muddying the back end of the Red Sox rotation.
The bullpen did yeoman's work from there.
Heath Hembree came on in relief and pitched well, stranding an inherited runner and adding a scoreless fifth. Junichi Tazawa followed with a perfect sixth. Brad Ziegler, Robby Scott and Joe Kelly all recorded two late-inning outs, and Koji Uehara earned the save in the ninth. In total they had 5 1/3 scoreless, and lowered their major-league leading ERA in September.
www.bostonherald.com/sports/red_sox/clubhouse_insider/2016/09/hanley_ramirez_red_sox_sweep_yankees