It got sloppy at the end, but Neil Walker and the New York Yankees held on for a 3-2 win over the Boston Red Sox.
- New York Yankees 3 (92-58)
- Boston Red Sox 2 (103-48)
- AL East, Final, Box Score
- Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York
The New York Yankees delayed the start of their game Tuesday night against the Boston Red Sox due to rain. New York also delayed its offense until the bottom of the seventh inning, when Neil Walker struck the decisive blow.
J.A. Happ took the mound for the Yankees, opposed by former Yankee Nathan Eovaldi. Both pitchers were dealing and the only run through the first six innings came when a Gary Sanchez passed ball put Ian Kinsler on third base, setting up a J.D. Martinez sacrifice fly.
@JDMartinez14 Sac Fly ⚾️⚾️ https://t.co/partfeqnGv
— Jorge Blanco (@jorgeablancoc) September 19, 2018
The Yankees offense had few opportunities to get to Eovaldi, and their biggest sluggers failed them in the chances they did get.
The Yankees had runners on first and second with one out when Aaron Judge, back in the lineup for the first time since July 26, grounded into a double play to end the inning.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Gleyber Torres lead off with a double. After Andrew McCutchen and Judge both failed to move him over, Didi Gregorius was hit by a pitch, but Giancarlo Stanton struck out on a high fastball.
After Chad Green pitched a scoreless top of the seventh in relief of Happ, the Yankees offense finally broke through in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Boston manager opted to remove Eovaldi from the game, even though he’d thrown only 83 pitches and had given up just two hits. In came Brandon Workman, who sandwiched walks to Aaron Hicks and Gary Sanchez around a Miguel Andujar foul out.
Cora then turned to Ryan Brasier for a little support, a questionable move, since the righty kept the switch-hitting Walker on his strong left side. Walker worked the count full before driving a three-run home run into the upper deck in right field.
Home run, Neil Walker. Into the second deck. #Yankees lead 3-1. Boston's champagne celebration put on hold for now. pic.twitter.com/nJZFolywBr
— Tom Hanslin (@tomhanslin) September 19, 2018
The Red Sox threatened in the top of the eighth against David Robertson, when J.D. Martinez hit a double that Hicks lazily played into a triple. Robertson got a popup and a fly ball to wriggle out of trouble.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone went with Zach Britton to close out the game, everything started going wrong.
After a walk and a strikeout, which Sanchez almost turned into a base runner, Gleyber Torres dropped a potential double-play ball at second base, setting the Red Sox up with runners at first and third with just one out.
Britton then got Sam Travis to tap back to the mound, but the Yankees reliever threw the ball past Torres, allowing a run to score.
The third time’s the charm, though, as a grounder back to the mound from Kinsler resulted in a game-ending double play.
The Yankees 3-2 victory kept the Red Sox from clinching first place in the East for one more game. It also put them back up by 2.5 in the Wild Card race over the Oakland A’s, who had the night off.
