Ladies and gentlemen, the Boston Red Sox are your 2016 American League East champions. But they didn’t beat the New York Yankees on Wednesday night.
The Red Sox clinched the AL East for the second time in the last four seasons after the Baltimore Orioles beat the Toronto Blue Jays 3-2 prior to the end of Wednesday’s Red Sox-Yankees matchup. And it seemed as though Boston had this one in the bag after entering the bottom of the ninth inning with a three-run lead, but closer Craig Kimbrel loaded the bases before Joe Kelly replaced him and gave up a walk-off grand slam to Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira.
Here’s how it all went down.
GAME IN A WORD
Weird.
The game was scoreless through seven innings before the Red Sox struck for three runs in the eighth, and it looked as though they wouldn’t be stopped. However, they were, and they ended up having to celebrate their AL East title at Yankee Stadium after losing to New York.
IT WAS OVER WHEN …
Teixeira hit his walk-off grand slam.
The Yankees guaranteed a series win with that homer.
ON THE BUMP
— Clay Buchholz dazzled in his second outing against the Yankees this month. The right-hander gave up just one hit, an infield single to Brett Gardner, over six shutout innings. In fact, Gardner was the only Yankee to do anything against Boston’s starter, as the two walks Buchholz gave up both were to the left fielder, while the rest of the Yankees’ lineup went 0-for-17. Buchholz also used a healthy mix of off-speed pitches and had six strikeouts.
— Brad Ziegler took the mound in the seventh and pitched a 1-2-3 inning.
— Koji Uehara dealt a one-out walk to Teixeira but otherwise held the eighth inning down and added a strikeout.
— Kimbrel started the ninth by giving up a single to Gardner and walking Jacoby Ellsbury and Gary Sanchez and was yanked after giving up a third consecutive walk to Brian McCann to bring in a run.
Kelly replaced Kimbrel and got the first two outs, but gave up the walk-off grand slam.
IN THE BATTER’S BOX
— Neither the Red Sox nor the Yankees had too many baserunners Wednesday, but the Red Sox struck hard in the eighth when Mookie Betts hit a two-run double with the bases loaded. The right fielder went 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
— Dustin Pedroia hit a ground-rule double in the eighth to go 1-for-5.
— Jackie Bradley Jr. also tallied a hit, going 1-for-3 with a walk.
— David Ortiz went 0-for-3 but was intentionally walked and scored a run on a passed ball in the eighth. Hanley Ramirez also went hitless at 0-for-2 but walked twice, one of them intentional.
— Brock Holt went 0-for-1 with two walks. Aaron Hill pinch-hit for Holt in the eighth and was walked intentionally.
— Sandy Leon went o-for-2 with a walk and reached on a throwing error to start the Red Sox’s three-run eighth inning. Marco Hernandez pinch-ran for the catcher after that and scored a run on Betts’ double.
Bryan Holaday came on as the catcher in the bottom of the eighth and struck out in his ninth-inning at-bat.
— Xander Bogaerts went 1-for-5 after getting his first hit, an infield single, in the ninth.
— Andrew Benintendi (0-for-4) went hitless.
TWEET OF THE NIGHT
Rapper Lil Wayne celebrated the Red Sox’s AL East title after they officially clinched.
UP NEXT
The Red Sox finish out their series in New York on Thursday in another 7:05 p.m. ET contest. Henry Owens will start in the place of Drew Pomeranz and go head-to-head with Yankees starter and fellow lefty CC Sabathia.
Thumbnail photo via Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports Images
