Red Sox Need To Contain Yankees’ Secret Strength In Critical Series

The Boston Red Sox won their series opener against the New York Yankees on Thursday, but it wasn’t easy. The game was a close, tense battle until the top of the ninth, when Roman Anthony finally broke it open with a monster two-run homer, sealing a 6-3 victory in his Yankee Stadium debut.

Both teams made plenty of mistakes. The Red Sox went 3-for-19 with runners in scoring position and repeatedly failed to put the game away, while the Yankees’ defensive issues resurfaced with four fielding errors.

Both clubs were fairly aggressive on the basepaths, trying to manufacture runs the old-fashioned way. Each side went 2-for-2 in stolen base attempts, while Boston also had a runner picked off.

If this game sets the tone for the rest of the series, the Red Sox will need to look out for New York’s running game. While the Yankees’ main strength is their power (they lead MLB with 210 home runs), they’ve also been sneakily dangerous on the base paths.

With 102 stolen bases, New York ranks 10th in MLB and fifth in the American League. The Yankees have been even more aggressive in August, leading MLB with 27 steals in 18 games this month.

New York’s speed is something that Boston needs to look out for. If the Red Sox want to win this series, controlling the Yankees’ running game will be key.

Fortunately, Boston has one of the best defensive catchers in baseball in Carlos Narváez, who leads MLB with 25 caught stealings. He went 0-for-2 on Thursday, but he’ll probably have several chances to redeem himself this weekend.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox should look to be aggressive on the bases as well, especially if their struggles with runners in scoring position continue. They paid the price for being too conservative against the Baltimore Orioles earlier this week, so hopefully they learned a valuable lesson.