The Red Sox have dealt with two rain delays that went over an hour in the final week of September, but they can likely thank Yankees manager Aaron Boone for shortening Sunday’s contest.
Boston lost to New York, 2-0, after six innings at Yankee Stadium. The game was cut short after a rain delay of one hour and 38 minutes, but it reportedly could have gone longer.
NJ Advance Media’s Brendan Kuty reported ESPN pressured Major League Baseball officials to wait out the rain delay. Aaron Judge was due to take the plate and possibly hit his 61st home run, tying Roger Maris’ American League single-season record.
But Boone and Red Sox manager Alex Cora wished to conclude the game, understanding the weather would not get better and the field conditions would be a danger to their players. Boone reportedly looked to exhaust all of his options to end the game. It wasn’t until the New York manager threatened to sit Judge that forced ESPN to cut the game short.
“MLB followed all of its usual processes at this point of the season in monitoring the weather,” the league said, per Kuty. “The playability of the field and the window to complete the game. There was no other influence outside of that context prior to MLB’s decision, and the suggestion otherwise is simply not true.”
The Red Sox and Yankees were reportedly told during the delay there was a chance the game could start back up around 12:30 p.m. ET, which would have extended the delay about an hour.
The loss Sunday knocked Boston out of postseason contention, and heading into Tuesday’s matchup against the Toronto Blue Jays, Judge is still seeking home run number 61. The Red Sox will take on the Baltimore Orioles after Monday’s game was affected with a rain delay of an hour and 40 minutes.
