Yankees 9, Red Sox 4: Gary Sanchez hits first big league home run; Nathan Eovaldi injured

In a game that lasted over four hours, the Yankees lost a starting pitcher and saw one of their young players pick up four hits including a home run in Fenway Park. Nathan Eovaldi lasted only 12 pitches before elbow discomfort forced from the game. He is heading to New York to have it examined, which is probably a bad sign. Hopefully it isn’t as serious as it seems like it could be.

Without their starter, the Yankees had to lean on their bullpen without a true long man to come in for relief. They fell behind pretty early, but managed to limit the damage until the offense showed up in the later innings. Adam Warren was the strength of the reliever parade, going two innings and not allowing a single baserunner.

Boston scored all four of their runs in the sixth inning or earlier to the Yankees’ one run to that point. From there, it was all New York. Chasen Shreve and Blake Parker each pitched 1.1 innings and gave up one run to the Red Sox. Tommy Layne recorded two outs and surrendered the other two runs before handing the game over to Tyler Clippard.

It looked, at that point, like the Yankees were heading for another disappointing loss. It would have been one that made sense, at least, considering their starter was only able to throw 12 pitches. Didi Gregorius homered in the fifth inning to put the Yankees on the board. It was just a continuation of the strong offensive performance that Gregorius has put up all season.

Everything fell apart for Boston in the seventh and eighth innings. The Yankees scored five times in the seventh, starting with Austin Romine singling home Gregorius and Gary Sanchez came around to score on a single by Jacoby Ellsbury to bring the Yankees to within one. Chase Headley tied the score with a single before Starlin Castro drove in two more runs with a double. That put the Yankees ahead 6-4.

Gary Sanchez hit his first big league home run in the eighth with a solo shot that went 426 feet. Romine and Rob Refsnyder scored on wild pitches to complete the scoring. It was an improbable win for the Yankees, who are now just 4.5 games back in the Wild Card. It’s hard to see them actually making the postseason, but give them credit for at least hanging around this long.

Also of note in the game, Alex Rodriguez finally got a pinch hit appearance. He hit the ball well but flew out on a narrow miss. That’s probably to be expected when a guy hasn’t played regularly and comes in to face a pitcher throwing 98 mph. The Red Sox lost Mookie Betts to calf tightness and David Ortiz to a leg injury. Ortiz’s injury looked serious and he needed to be helped off the field, which could definitely be bad news for Boston.

The Yankees and Red Sox finish off the series tomorrow evening with Michael Pineda and Eduardo Rodriguez getting the start for their respective teams. Rodriguez is expected to start, and it remains to be seen whether or not the injured Red Sox players will be able to go.