NEW YORK (AP) — Brock Holt had one thing in mind: He was swinging for the fences.After all
Mariano Rivera Jersey , the game was decided long ago. And everything else went Boston’s way all night, so why not this?The part-time utilityman put the
finishing touch on a Red Sox blowout, becoming the first player to hit for the
cycle in a postseason game as Boston routed the New York Yankees 16-1 on Monday
to seize a 2-1 lead in their best-of-five AL Division Series.“This one I’ll
remember for a long time,” said Holt, unaware of his achievement until told by a
television reporter right after the final out. “Obviously, you don’t go into the
game expecting to make history or do anything like that, let alone score 16
runs.”Andrew Benintendi lined a three-run double and Holt tripled home two more
in a seven-run fourth inning that quickly turned the latest playoff matchup
between these longtime rivals into a laugher. Handed a big early lead, Nathan
Eovaldi shut down his former team during New York’s most lopsided defeat in 396
postseason games.“An embarrassing day,” shortstop Didi Gregorius said.Game 4 is
Tuesday night in the Bronx, where the 108-win Red Sox can put away the wild-card
Yankees for good and advance to the AL Championship Series against Houston. Rick
Porcello is scheduled to pitch against New York lefty CC Sabathia.Boston
battered an ineffective Luis Severino and silenced a charged-up Yankee Stadium
crowd that emptied out fast on a night when Red Sox rookie manager Alex Cora
made all the right moves.By the ninth, backup catcher Austin Romine was on the
mound for New York and he gave up a two-run homer to Holt that completed his
cycle .“You get a little antsy when a position player is on the mound. I told
everyone, ‘Get me up. I need a home run for a cycle,'” Holt said. “I scooted up
in the box a little bit, and I was going to be swinging at anything and try to
hook anything. Obviously, you don’t expect to hit a home run, but I was trying
to. I was trying to hit a home run. That’s probably the first time I’ve ever
tried to do that. I rounded the bases, and seeing everyone going nuts in the
dugout was a pretty cool moment for me.”His teammates, too.“He wasn’t shy about
it,” Benintendi said. “Everybody was rooting for him.”Boosted by noisy fans in
their homer-friendly ballpark, the Yankees entered 7-0 at home the past two
postseasons — against out-of-division opponents. But the Red Sox
http://www.yankeesfanproshop.com/authentic-babe-ruth-jersey , frequent visitors who clinched the AL East crown at Yankee Stadium just 2½ weeks
ago, were hardly intimidated.“I think from pitch 1, we let them know that we
were here,” Cora said.Mookie Betts, in fact, hit a 405-foot flyout to the
center-field warning track to begin the game.Making his first playoff start this
year, Holt opened the fourth with a single off Severino and capped the 26-minute
outburst with a triple to right field. The 2015 All-Star also doubled home a run
in the eighth and finished with five RBIs.Holt also hit for the cycle against
Atlanta on June 6, 2015.“He’s been swinging the bat well for a while now,” Cora
said. “We felt the matchup was good for him.”Every starter had at least one hit
for the Red Sox, who piled up 18 in all. The only time they scored more runs in
the postseason was a 23-7 win over Cleveland in 1999.Eovaldi pitched for the
Yankees from 2015-16 before injuring his elbow, which required a second Tommy
John surgery. Boston acquired him from Tampa Bay in July and the hard-throwing
righty compiled a 1.93 ERA in four starts against New York this season — three
with the Red Sox.Bumped up a day in front of Porcello, he delivered a gem in his
first postseason appearance. Eovaldi allowed one run and five hits in seven
innings, throwing 72 of 97 pitches for strikes.“I was just trying to use their
aggressiveness against them and try and get some quick outs,” Eovaldi said. “It
was a special moment for me. I don’t think it’s really quite settled in
yet.”Going with Eovaldi was one of several choices that paid off for
Cora.Looking to play left-handed hitters against Severino, the first-year
skipper inserted Holt at second base and Rafael Devers at third. Christian
Vazquez started at catcher over Sandy Leon.Devers singled twice, stole a base,
scored two runs and knocked in another. Vazquez’s infield single off Severino’s
glove drove in the first run.Benintendi, already a Yankees nemesis, was on base
four times and scored twice. Betts also scored two runs and drove in two.“It
just kind of shows you what kind of team we have and that we could explode at
any minute,” Betts said.TBS reported Severino began warming up only 10 minutes
before the game
Lou Gehrig Jersey , and he certainly looked out of sorts from the start in misty weather. He left with the bases loaded and nobody out in the fourth and
was charged with six runs and seven hits.“He got his normal pitches routine,”
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “It wasn’t an issue.”STRANGE SIGHTThe only
other position player to pitch in a postseason game was Toronto infielder Cliff
Pennington against Kansas City in the 2015 AL Championship Series.IF AT
FIRSTThere were four replay challenges in the first four innings — all involving
calls by first base umpire Angel Hernandez. Three were overturned.TRAINER’S
ROOMRed Sox: 1B Mitch Moreland sat out after leaving Game 2 when he hurt his
right hamstring running the bases. “Mitch is available, but he’s not 100
percent,” Cora said. Steve Pearce played first and had an RBI single in the
fourth.Yankees: CF Aaron Hicks remained out of the lineup after missing Game 2
with tightness in his right hamstring, which forced him from the series opener
Friday. Boone said Hicks was doing “significantly better,” and sitting him was a
much more difficult decision than it was Saturday. Brett Gardner was back in
center, but Boone said he wouldn’t hesitate to use Hicks in any role off the
bench.UP NEXTRed Sox: Porcello (17-7, 4.28 ERA) got two late outs in relief
during the series opener last Friday, so his start was pushed back a day to Game
4. The 2016 AL Cy Young Award winner, who grew up a Mets fan in nearby New
Jersey, was 2-0 with a 2.31 ERA in three starts against the Yankees this year —
including a one-hitter on just 86 pitches Aug. 3 at Fenway Park. He is 0-3 with
a 5.33 ERA in 12 career postseason outings, including four starts.Yankees: The
38-year-old Sabathia (9-7, 3.65) will be on 11 days’ rest when he makes his 23rd
postseason start. The big lefty was ejected from his last regular-season outing
for hitting Tampa Bay catcher Jesus Sucre with a pitch during a testy game
between division rivals on Sept. 27. Sabathia appealed a five-game suspension
from Major League Baseball that would not take effect until next season. He said
Monday he definitely wants to play in 2019 — even if it’s not for the Yankees.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — As he inched closer to a no-hitter, Jake Odorizzi was ready
to throw 140 pitches if needed. He was nearing his career high against the New
York Yankees, but was confident he could talk Minnesota Twins manager Paul
Molitor into leaving him in for the ninth inning if it got to that
point.Odorizzi never made it that far.His no-hit bid was broken up when Greg
Bird laced a run-scoring double with one out in the eighth, and the Twins beat
the Yankees 3-1 Wednesday night to take two of three from New York.The Yankees’
lead over Oakland for the top AL wild card was cut to one game as they completed
a 4-5 trip.A tiring Odorizzi walked Luke Voit before Bird lined the next pitch
deep into the left-center gap. Odorizzi was immediately pulled and he tipped his
cap to the crowd as he walked off to a standing ovation.“It’s been a tough year.
There’s no if ands or buts about it,” Odorizzi said. “So it’s good to have one
of these outings toward the end, feel the energy, show them kind of what I’m
capable of doing.”Odorizzi (6-10) struck out five and walked three, matching his
big league high of 120 pitches set while pitching for Tampa Bay against the
Twins on June 3
http://www.yankeesfanproshop.com/authentic-joe-dimaggio-jersey , 2016.There was no hesitation on Molitor’s part as he went to take out his
starter after Odorizzi finally allowed a hit in the eighth. Odorizzi needed just
seven pitches to get through the seventh, but that brought his pitch count to
109 entering the eighth.“It was a good kind of stress for me, trying to
negotiate with Jake in between innings,” Molitor said. “No one wants to see
anyone get hurt, but he’s a veteran. He said he felt great, and I know he would
be smart about trying to find ways to take it a pitch at a time, a hitter at a
time.”Taylor Rogers relieved Odorizzi and promptly struck out Gleyber Torres
before Trevor Hildenberger fanned Andrew McCutchen. Hildenberger finished for
his sixth save.Luis Severino (17-8) allowed one run and four hits in 5 2/3
innings, dropping to 3-6 in his last 11 starts. Severino unsuccessfully tried to
persuade manager Aaron Boone to keep him in the game in the sixth.“He wanted to
stay in the game. I’m fine with my guys wanting to stay in the game,” Boone
said. “He was very pitch efficient. Obviously it wasn’t a pitch count issue, it
was just starting to get a little away and he’s in the fight right now. I
respect the hell out of that.”Severino permitted one hit in the first five
innings, then gave up a one-out single to Max Kepler in the sixth followed by
Ehire Adrianza’s go-ahead double.Joe Mauer’s single put runners at the corners,
Jorge Polanco struck out on a wild pitch that advanced Mauer, and David
Robertson relieved and retired Eddie Rosario on a groundout.“My confidence is
always up,” said Severino, tagged with the loss in consecutive starts. “I’ve had
some struggles but that’s nothing I can’t fix. So I was going to go give 110
percent and compete for my team.”Minnesota opened a 3-0 lead in the seventh when
Willians Astudillo hit an RBI single and scored on Kepler’s double.Twins catcher
Mitch Garver was removed after two innings. He took a foul tip to the mask in
the second, and the team said initial tests did not indicate a
concussion.TRAINER’S ROOMYankees: All-Star closer Aroldis Chapman could return
next week from nearly a month on the disabled list. Chapman has not pitched
since Aug. 21 because of left knee tendinitis, which has bothered him throughout
the season. The 30-year-old left-hander threw a bullpen Wednesday and was to
return to New York for treatment. Boone anticipates another bullpen session this
weekend, then a return.Twins: 3B Miguel Sano (left leg) said he hopes to play
again before the end of the season. “I want to finish strong,” he said. Sano was
hurt last week when he slid awkwardly into second base against Houston.UP
NEXTYankees: RHP Masahiro Tanaka is to start Friday against Toronto. Tanaka has
won consecutive starts in September after going winless in August.Twins: LHP
Stephen Gonsalves will make his fifth big league start Thursday at Kansas
City.
