Red Sox Beat Yankees 8-7 To Complete 3-Game Sweep
BOSTON -- The Red Sox completed a sweep of the rival Yankees as Christian Vazquez clubbed a two-run, seventh-inning homer off Dellin Betances to lift Boston to an 8-7 victory over floundering New York
Betances, who surrendered a game-winning homer to David Ortiz on Friday night, threw a 97 mph fastball to Vazquez, and the young catcher drilled it completely out of Fenway Park -- his second career homer, first since Sept. 25, 2014. Vazquez missed last season following Tommy John surgery.
The blast snapped a 6-6 tie, and the RBIs were Vazquez's first and second of the season.
The Red Sox, taking over the May 1 lead in the American League East, rallied from 3-1 and 6-4 deficits to bail David Price
Price, who has allowed at least five runs in three of his six starts, was touched for six runs on eight hits and a walk in seven innings Sunday. He struck out three.
While Boston (15-10) completed a 7-1 homestand, the last-place Yankees, off to their worst start since 1984, dropped their fifth straight and fell to 8-15.
Alex Rodriguez drove in four runs in the loss, two with his 692nd homer (his second round-tripper of the series) and two with a long double. Jacoby Ellsbury had two doubles for New York.
The Yankees scored a run on a Koji Uehara wild pitch in the eighth, but Craig Kimbrel worked a perfect ninth with two strikeouts for his eighth save in nine chances.
Betances has allowed homers in each of his past three appearances. This one made a loser of Ivan Nova (1-1), who relieved Nathan Eovaldi in the sixth inning. Betances yielded six homers all of last season and didn't give up No. 3 until Aug. 23. It was the first time he ever allowed homers in two straight games to the same team.
Travis Shaw hit a tying two-run homer for Boston in the fifth inning. Hanley Ramirez had a two-run single and Dustin Pedroia and Xander Bogaerts both had three hits for the Red Sox, who visit the AL Central Division-leading Chicago White Sox this week.
Rain, at times heavy, fell through the early innings but was gone around the fifth.
Eovaldi won his two previous starts at Fenway Park, but after the Yankees wasted a leadoff double by Ellsbury in the top of the first, the Red Sox scored in the bottom half. Singles by Mookie Betts and Pedroia put runners on first and third with nobody out, and Xander Bogaerts brought Betts home
Ronald Torreyes started the Yankees third with a single and was bunted to second by Austin Romine. Ellsbury doubled down the first base line to score
Eovaldi couldn't stand the prosperity of the rare Yankee outbreak. With one out in the bottom of the third, Pedroia singled and took second on a Bogaerts single. David Ortiz, who struck out in the first, walked to load the bases, and Ramirez tied the game with his two-run single.
After Shaw struck out for the second time, Brock Holt singled. Ramirez, taking a strange mini-detour going toward third, was thrown out, just as Ortiz crossed the plate. The Yankees challenged the run, but the call stood after a review of almost four minutes.
ESPN reported Price failed to strike anyone out in the first four innings of a start for the first time since 2010. He took care of that by fanning Romine to lead off the fifth, but he hit Ellsbury and walked Brett Gardner on four pitches before Rodriguez came close to duplicating his previous at-bat, doubling off the wall in left-center to knock in two. He scored on Mark Teixeira's single.
In five-plus innings, Eovaldi was charged with six runs on 10 hits with three walks and three strikeouts.