Red Sox finally get to Cam Schlittler, take advantage of four Yankees errors to win series opener
The Yankees arrived at Fenway Park on Thursday night with the best record in the American League, the Red Sox with the worst.
The Sox also had the disadvantage of having arrived home from a road trip long after the sun came up because of mechanical issues with their chartered flight from Denver.
But when you put these teams together, no matter what the standings say, things happen you don’t expect.
This time it was the Sox scoring six unearned runs to beat their rivals, 6-3, before a sellout crowd of 36,307 at Fenway Park.
That’s not all. Caleb Durbin, who thought he had broken his left little finger on Wednesday, was 2 for 3 with a walk and what proved to be the game-winning two-run homer off Yankees ace Cam Schlittler in the fifth inning.
“It’s been a crazy day,” Durbin said.
And one desperately needed by the Sox, who had lost seven of their previous 10 games. But four errors by the Yankees provided the adrenaline they needed.
“We didn’t quit. We didn’t give it away,” said interim manager Chad Tracy, who experienced his first Yankees-Sox game at Fenway. “I know they’re tired. I’m tired. We’re all going to go home and sleep.”
Schlittler dominated the Red Sox in two previous starts this season, allowing two earned runs over 13⅔ innings. The Walpole native had a 2-0 lead through four innings in Round 3 before it was the Yankees who looked sleepy.
Masataka Yoshida walked to lead off the fifth inning before Ceddanne Rafaela singled. Wilyer Abreu struck out looking at a triple-digit fastball on the inside corner.
Willson Contreras followed with a 112.8-mile-per-hour ground ball to third base. It should have been an inning-ending double play, but the ball went through the legs of Amed Rosario, allowing Yoshida to score.
Rafaela scored on a sacrifice fly to shallow left field by Jarren Duran as Jose Caballero made a weak throw to the plate. It seemed like a daring dash for Rafaela, but the Sox knew they could run on Caballero.
Schlittler had a chance to limit the damage, but Durbin belted a full-count cutter into the Monster Seats for a two-run homer and a 4-2 lead.
“Just gave him a lot of opportunities early on. Made a mistake there at the end to Durbin. I paid for it,” Schlittler said.
Durbin batted with his injured finger taped to his ring finger. That allowed him to grip the bat at least somewhat comfortably.
“I was just happy to be out there,” said Durbin, who has hit .329 with a .976 OPS, 14 extra-base hits, and 16 RBIs in his last 24 games after slumping for the better part of two months.
The Sox added two runs in the eighth inning when another Yankees error helped fuel a rally. A poor throw from shortstop Anthony Volpe on what could have been an inning-ending double play also played a role.
“We just didn’t do a good job of taking care of the ball tonight,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.
It was an important game for lefthander Connelly Early. He and Payton Tolle, who starts Friday night, left Colorado on Tuesday to get out of the high altitude and rest back in Boston.
That made Early the only player in the lineup who wasn’t half-zombie to start the game.
“Always want to pick up the boys when I can. They didn’t get much sleep,” said Early, who allowed two runs over six innings and struck out nine to improve to 7-5. He retired the final seven batters he faced, four by strikeout.
The Sox bullpen inherited a 4-2 lead. Greg Weissert walked Jazz Chisholm leading off the seventh, and the Yankees manufactured a run to cut the lead to 4-3.
Aroldis Chapman, who shockingly allowed three runs on Monday for his first blown save of the season, loaded the bases with two outs in the ninth.
Ben Rice, the Cohasset native who leads the Yankees with 53 RBIs, grounded a ball up the first-base line. Chapman raced off the mound to snag the ball, spun, and made the throw to first. It was only his second assist of the season.
Garrett Whitlock, who pitched a scoreless eighth inning, said he napped for 30 minutes in the clubhouse before the game.
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“One of those days,” he said. “But it worked out.”
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