The Boston Red Sox have advanced to the American League Division Series after defeating the New York Yankees 6-2 at Fenway Park Tuesday night.
Boston’s last regular-season game proved to be a difference maker in this game, as the comeback victory allowed the Red Sox to not only avoid a tiebreaker game, but it gave the Red Sox a chance to clinch home field advantage against the Yankees.
After narrowly avoiding a tiebreaker game by rallying for a comeback win in their last regular season game against the Washington Nationals, the Red Sox came out swinging against the Yankees.
Despite missing designated hitter J.D. Martinez due to injury, the Red Sox had no issues hitting the ball out of the park on Tuesday night. Shortstop Xander Bogaerts got the Red Sox off to a hot start by hitting a 2-run homer in the first inning followed up by a solo home run in the third by trade-deadline acquisition Kyle Schwarber.
Yankees designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton had a near-homerun bounce high off the Green Monster in the top of the first inning.
Stanton had another close call in the top of the sixth inning where another deep shot bounced off the wall. Had Stanton hit the ball over the wall, the two run blast would have tied the game.
“Those hurt real bad,” said John Keeler, a junior Suffolk law student who was in attendance Tuesday night. “The crowd was real excited, we [Yankee fans] were honestly jumping… and it was disappointing.”
The disappointment of Yankee fans, especially after the second near-homerun, was met by excitement and trash talking by Red Sox fans.
“I remember I had a Red Sox fan that was sitting next to me, and he tapped my shoulder and [sarcastically] said ‘how bout them Yankees?’” said Stephen Rykola, a senior Business Management and Entrepreneurship major, and Yankees fan, recalled.
Although the Green Monster was certainly a big help in this game, the Red Sox’ pitchers deserve credit too.
Starting Pitcher Nathan Eovaldi had a great outing, pitching through five innings, only allowing one run and striking out eight.
The same could not be said for Yankees ace Gerrit Cole, who was pulled from the game after allowing three runs in two innings on the mound.
The Fenway faithful was out in full force, as it always is during Red Sox-Yankees in October, but the energy was even greater due to the winner take-all playoff game.
Describing the Fenway playoff atmosphere, Keeler said “Outside of the loss, it was the most fun game I’ve ever been to.”
Similarly, Rykola said, “I’ve been to plenty of Sox games in my four years here, however this was my first playoff game at Fenway, and experiencing the atmosphere at Fenway during the playoffs is something I’m not going to forget anytime soon. It was such an electric environment.”
The Red Sox will begin their Division Series against the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday night at Tampa Bay.
When asked about their predictions for the upcoming Red Sox-Rays series, Keeler predicted that the Rays will beat the Red Sox in three games. Rykola on the other hand believes the series will last four games.
