The Boston Red Sox went visiting the city by the bay for the first time in three years last night, and came away with a 5-3 extra innings win against the San Francisco Giants, who hadn't lost at home in five straight games.
Xander Bogaerts drove in the winning runs in the top of the tenth inning with a bases-loaded floater that fell into short center field. Rick Porcello went six innings, giving up three runs but left with the game tied so didn't factor in the decision, the win going to Junichi Tazawa who pitched a perfect 8th and Craig Kimbrel got his fourteenth save preserving the lead Bogaerts gave him in the bottom of the tenth. Chris Young drove in a run for Boston and made a sensational sliding catch near the foul line in left, crashing into the all just as Blake Swihart did at Fenway, causing an injury that will have him out at least two weeks and Young is expected to get a lot of playing time in left as a result. Fortunately for him and the Sox he was not injured on that great sliding catch effort.
The NY Yankees have been getting well against the L.A. Angels, and Michael Pineda certainly enjoyed their company, pitching seven strong innings last night in a 6-3 Yankees win. Starlin Castro and Carlos Beltran each homered for a second straight game to power the Yankees offense. The Yanks go for the sweep tonight with Nathan Eovaldi and his fastball that sometimes hits 100 mph going against one of the softest throwers in the majors Jered Weaver for the Halos.
The NY Mets have found their pitching groove recently but their offense has gone into hibernation at the same time, and the Pittsburgh Pirates took advantage, sweeping a double-header against the Mets yesterday, winning by identical 3-1 scores. Jon Niese beat his former team in the first game, and Juan Nicasio got just his second win in his last six starts, retiring the first twelve Mets batters of the game in the nightcap.
Looking to defend the championship they won last summer, the Vermont Mountaineers start their New England Collegiate Baseball League season today. The Mountaineers start their season tonight at Recreational Field in Montpelier against the Upper Valley Nighthawks at 6:30.
In other local sports news, in division one boys' lacrosse Kyle Murakami scored sox goals to lead South Burlington over Rutland 9-3 in yesterday's semi-final match. Murakami scored two of those goals in under a minute and a half after sitting for a penalty in the third quarter, but up next for South Burlington is a tough task in taking on three-time defending champions CVU, who are 16-1 this season. That title game will be Saturday at Burlington High school.
In the D-1 girls semi-final it was Middlebury finally getting the monkey off their backs against Mount Mansfield, having suffered two previous playoff losses, the Tigers emerged victorious yesterday in a 9-5 win. They'll take on Mount Anthony for the championship.
The United States mens' soccer team lost their first match in the Copa America tournament to Colombia, and were in danger of not making it out of the group stage, but they got a big win to improve their standing yesterday in a 4-0 shut-out of Costa Rica. Clint Dempsey scored on a penalty kick in the ninth minute and assisted on another U.S. goal in the must-win game.
