The Red Sox are on the mend.
Faced with the rival Yankees, Boston pounced all over AL Cy Young candidate Gerrit Cole for two home runs in the first three frames to take an early 3-0 lead, and Nathan Eovaldi’s strong outing and a shutout bullpen performance kept the Yankee bats in check. New York got one run in the ninth inning, but it wasn’t enough as the Red Sox won the American League Wild Card Game 6-2 to advance to the ALDS.
They will take on AL East opponents and the American League’s top squad, the Rays.
Bogaerts crushed a center-cut changeup to dead center in the bottom of the first inning, sparking the Red Sox and putting the team ahead early. Kyle Schwarber led off the bottom of the third inning with a single home run to right. Cole was eventually removed from the game following a single and a walk.
From there, Eovaldi was contacted. He pitched 5.1 innings and surrendered just one run on a solo home run by Anthony Rizzo, one of four hits surrendered, while striking out eight batters.
From there, the Red Sox bullpen shut down New York. In the final 3.2 innings of work, Ryan Brasier, Tanner Houck, Hansel Robels, and Garrett Whitlock allowed just one more run, a Joey Gallo home run in the top of the ninth, on two hits, no walks, and three strikeouts.
However, the Boston bats persisted. Alex Verdugo doubled in the bottom of the sixth inning to bring in a run in response to Rizzo’s blast and subsequently singled in the seventh to drive in two more runs and break open the game, making it 6-1.
Sporting News provided live scoring updates and highlights from the 2021 MLB postseason matchup between the Yankees and Red Sox. The complete results of the American League wild-card game are included below.
