If there’s anything Red Sox starter Nathan Eovaldi knows, it’s how to pitch to the New York Yankees.
The Boston righty stifled the Yankees’ bats Saturday night, and the end result was a 4-2 Red Sox victory in the second contest of a three-game set at Fenway Park.
Eovaldi didn’t allow a run until the eighth inning, while the offense, despite making a ton of soft contact, generated enough quality at-bats to secure the win.
With the win, the Red Sox climb to 46-31. The Yankees fall to 40-36 with the loss.
Here’s how it all went down:
GAME IN A WORD
Vntage.
It was a lengthy game that felt like it moved quickly, thanks to tons of intrigue from wire-to-wire.
ON THE BUMP
— Eovaldi generally has fared well against the Yankees, and that trend continued in a big way Saturday. The starter pitched 7 2/3 innings, allowing one run on seven hits with five strikeouts and no walks.
The hard-throwing right-hander did a mostly good job mitigating damage. He gave up a hit to begin the game, but induced a double play the next at-bat. Aaron Judge led off the fourth with a single, but Eovaldi got the next three hitters out, all while keeping Judge on first base.
In the sixth, Eovaldi allowed runners to reach first and second with one out, but escaped the frame with a double play.
Eovaldi pitched 1-2-3 innings in the second, third and fifth.
Sox manager Alex Cora sent Eovaldi back out for the eighth, and after getting the first two outs he allowed a DJ LeMahieu solo shot that cut Boston’s lead to 4-1, prompting Cora to pull Eovaldi.
— Hirokazu Sawamura replaced Eovaldi, and that’s where things got interesting. Sawamura walked Judge after a thrilling 10-pitch at-bat, then struggled to throw strikes the next two at-bats, walking the bases loaded before getting replaced.
— Adam Ottavino had the unenviable task of facing Luke Voit with the bases loaded. However, he got the first baseman to ground out to short to end the inning and keep the 4-1 advantage intact.
With Matt Barnes unavailable, Ottavino returned for the ninth and allowed runners to reach first and second with two outs. That brought up LaMahieu, who roped a full-count slider into center to drive in a run, trimming the Sox’s lead to 4-2.
Though Josh Taylor was warming up in the bullpen, Cora stuck with Ottavino. He was rewarded, as Ottavino got Judge to strike out swinging to end the game.
IN THE BATTER’S BOX
— Boston’s offense made Yanks starter Jordan Montgomery uncomfortable early on.
The Red Sox loaded the bases with no outs in the second inning, and Kiké Hernández brought the first run of the game home with a sacrifice fly to deep center.
Bobby Dalbec was next, and he popped out in foul territory to first baseman Voit. However, Voit didn’t think to look toward home after making the catch, so Rafael Devers wisely tagged up and scored on a roughly 150-foot sac fly to make it 2-0.
— Connor Wong, who was making his first big league start, got a base knock on his first MLB at-bat.
— In the third, Xander Bogaerts started a two-out rally with a double to right. Devers then legged out an infield single to put runners on the corners. That brought up Hunter Renfroe, who continued the Red Sox’s death-by-a-thousand-cuts offensive approach, hitting an infield single of his own by beating the shift. That scored Bogaerts to up Boston’s lead to 3-0.
— Montgomery settled in the rest of the evening, doing a largely solid job keeping the Red Sox’s bats at bay. But once Boston got into the Yankee bullpen, the bats briefly reignited again.
Michael Chavis began the inning with a base knock, then moved to third two batters later on a J.D. Martinez double. That allowed for Bogaerts to provide insurance, hitting a sacrifice to center that made it 4-0.
— Bogaerts and Renfroe had three hits apiece.
— Chavis, Martinez, Devers and Wong each had one hit.
— Alex Verdugo, Hernández and Dalbec all went hitless.
TWEET OF THE GAME
You know, that’s pretty good.
UP NEXT
The Red Sox and Yankees will finish up their three-game set Sunday afternoon. Eduardo Rodriguez will get the ball for the Red Sox, and will be opposed by Gerrit Cole. First pitch from Fenway Park is set for 1:10 p.m. ET.
