The Boston Red Sox continue to do damage to the New York Yankees.
Friday’s matchup featured a little bit of everything: a manager ejection, a complete game with fewer than 100 pitches and yet another Steve Pearce home run.
Fresh off a 15-7 rout of the American League East Rivals, Boston made it two in a row behind a spectacular outing from Rick Porcello, who tossed nine innings of one-hit ball, needing just 86 pitches, while striking out nine in the Red Sox’s 4-1 win.
Pearce remained hot, as he crushed a two-run home run — his fourth in two games — to get the scoring started and help lead the Sox to another win over their rivals.
With the win, the Red Sox improved to 77-34 and widened their lead in the American League East to 7 1/2 games, while the Yankees fell to 68-40.
Here’s how it all went down:
GAME IN A WORD
Complete.
Porcello was near perfect on the mound giving up just the lone hit, while the offense put up four runs on seven hits.
ON THE BUMP
— Porcello led the game off by plunking Brett Gardner, but would get out of the inning unscathed.
The only trouble the right-hander got into occurred in the third when he gave up a solo home run to Miguel Andujar to cut the Red Sox’s lead to 3-1. But after that, Porcello settled in as he tossed a gem of a game.
The right-hander gave the bullpen a much-needed rest, cruising through nine innings and retiring 21 consecutive New York batters to end the game.
IN THE BATTER’S BOX
— It was a wild first inning, to say the least.
Yankees ace Severino went up and in on Mookie Betts, sending him to the ground on a pitch that nearly hit him. Sox manager Alex Cora didn’t take too kindly to that and jumped out of the dugout after a warning was issued to both teams, but home plate umpire Adam Hamari wasted no time in ejecting the skipper.
After the verbal fireworks subsided, the Red Sox’s bats went to work.
Severino got Betts to ground out, but Andrew Benintendi doubled, bringing Pearce to the plate. And much as he did the night before, he sent a two-run blast into the Green Monster seats to give Boston an early 2-0 lead.
Eduardo Nunez plated the game’s third run on a bloop single to right-center field before the inning came to a close.
— With two outs in the fifth, J.D. Martinez kept the inning alive with a double before scoring on a Mitch Moreland single to put the Red Sox up 4-1.
— Moreland led the way for the Sox with two hits on the night.
— Betts, Benintendi, Pearce, Martinez and Nunez each had a hit.
TWEET OF THE GAME
Same.
UP NEXT
The two sides will continue their four-game set with the third matchup of the series Saturday afternoon. Nathan Eovaldi will make his second start for Boston and New York will counter with Chance Adams, who will make his Major League Baseball debut. First pitch from Fenway Park is slated for 4:05 p.m. ET.
