Yankees Highlights: Chaos erupts in London Series

Well, that certainly was an interesting way to introduce London to MLB. The league sent the Yankees and Red Sox across the pond to give sports fans on another continent a taste of the best baseball can offer. What they got was an odd spectacle, with a pair of six-run outbursts in the first inning chasing both starting pitchers from the game immediately. Twice the Yankees opened up seemingly insurmountable leads only for the Red Sox to claw back.

The game wasn’t exactly representative of the typical baseball contest, but then again, there isn’t anything typical about taking five days out of the middle of the season to play two games in a different country in a soccer stadium. In any event, the Yankees held on to win a bizarre slugfest, one that featured huge comebacks, relentless offense, and defense that was both sloppy and spectacular at times. It was nothing if not memorable.

Winner of the Game

Anyone that got to hit today. DJ LeMahieu had one of the biggest games, racking up four hits and driving in five runs, bringing his season line to .342/.390/.528. Luke Voit came up huge with four hits in as many at-bats, three of them doubles. Aaron Hicks rocked a three-run homer during the Yankees’ six-run first, and Aaron Jucked smacked a big two-run shot in the team’s six-run fourth. Every starter reached base and either scored or drove in at least one run.

Loser of the Game

Anyone that had to pitch today. Staked to a six-run lead, Masahiro Tanaka gave it all back in a hurry, with four hits and two walks scoring six runs in two-thirds of inning. Tanaka has been great lately, but it just wasn’t there for him today for whatever reason. Thankfully, his counterpart, Rick Porcello, had it even tougher, yielding six runs while recording just one out, giving way to a Boston bullpen that struggled as well.

Honorable mention: Edwin Encarnacion struck out five times, and Voit, while a winner for his hitting, left with an apparent core injury. Let’s hope it’s not serious.

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FanGraphs