The Boston Red Sox and NY Yankees are notorious for playing games punctuated by controversy and flared tempers, and last night's tilt at Fenway Park was no exception on either front.
First, the controversy, courtesy of the odd configuration and quirks of America's oldest ballpark itself. When rookie Andrew Benintendi, fast becoming a fan favorite since his call-up from the minors, blasted a ball deep to right center field, it hit a strip of yellow that separates the Green Monster from the small area next to the bleachers. When the ball hits the yellow line, it's a home run, and that was the call on the field. So Benintendi rounded the bases for his first career homer in front of friends and family in his first ever game at Fenway Park, but the Yankees challenged the call, and after video review in-- as some who are more conspiracy minded than I am would point out--NEW YORK, the home run call on the field was ruled a double instead. The official explanation was that the ball did hit the yellow line, but it rebounded back into the field, meaning it was still in play. Had it hit the yellow strip, which again, is considered a home run benchmark, and then somehow ricocheted to the right near the bleachers, it would have been a home run. So Benintendi had to settle for his second hit of the game being a double, and fortunately the run came in anyway when Dustin Pedroia, who had three hits in the game, doubled him home. That put the Red Sox up 4-2 and after a David Ortiz RBI single starter Rick Porcello had a 5-2 lead and Yankees' starter Luis Severino was out.
And Porcello did not squander that lead, pitching brilliantly and into the eighth inning for the third consecutive start. But that's when things got wild and those aforementioned tempers rose up. It started on as good a defensive play as you'll ever see by Jackie Bradley Jr., who watched as a shot by Chase Headley hit the edge of a sign on the Green Monster and took a weird bounce over his head on the rebound. Headley rounded second and took off for third as Bradley chased the ball down, grabbed it on the run, and all in one motion, his momentum carrying him off balance, threw a bullet to third base that Brock Holty grabbed just in time to tag Headley on the shoulder for the out. It was Bradley's eleventh outfield assist of the year and exhibit A as to why he may the game's best center fielder. After the out, though, Headley and Porcello got into a shouting match and both benches cleared as Headley started to walk toward the Boston pitcher. In the end, there were no punches thrown, and compared to some classic dust ups of the past between these two teams, this was more of a tea social, but it does set an interesting tone for the rest of the three game series.
When things settled down, Porcello got out of the inning, working around a Travis Shaw error that put runners at second and third with two out, and the Red Sox took a 5-2 lead into the ninth.
That should have been enough drama, but nooooo, as the late great John Belushi would say, because closer Craig Kimbrel, who's been pretty good since returning from knee surgery, was not good on this night. He walked four Yankees, including a bases loaded walk to Jacoby Ellsbury with two oits to make it a 5-3 game and that was all for Kimbrel, who was replaced by Matt Barnes, and fortunately for an anxious Red Sox Nation wondering if this would be one of those games, Barnes struck out Mark Texiera looking to end it and the Red Sox won 5-3.
Porcello remains undefeated at Fenway with the win, the Sox pick up a game on both Toronto and Baltimore in the standings, and all this without even an appearance yet by the much-loathed in Boston Alex Rodriguez, wh could get a start tonight against lefty Drew Pomeranz, still looking for his first win in a Boston uniform.
The Arizona Diamondbacks had Zack Greinke back from the disabled list for last night's game against the Mets in New York, and Greinke was a winner, giving up three runs on five hits in six innings as the D-Backs won 5-3. Michael Bourn hit a go-ahead triple in the seventh for Arizona.
In the NY Penn League, the Vermont Lake Monsters losing streak is now at nine games after a 3-0 loss to the Brooklyn Cyclones in New York last night. The Monsters mustered just six hits in the loss.
The New England Patriots will lose starting defensive end Rob Ninkovich for four to six weeks after he suffered a triceps tear in practice. He is expected to return at some point as apparently the tendon of the triceps was not torn, which may have been a season-ending injury for one of the Pats' top defensive players.
From the Olympics: it doesn't really matter, because the U.S. womens' soccer team had already secured a berth in the knock-out round, but in their final group play game they ran to a disappointing 2-2 draw with the last place Colombian team. U.S. keeper Hope Solo, who had not allowed a goal in group play, gave up two, including one on a penalty shot that she seemed to have corralled but slipped through her grasp and into the net.
And finally South Burlington High School athletic director Ed Hockenberry is leaving to take a job as associate athletic director for internal operations at the University of Vermont. The Burlington Free Press reports Hockenberry doesn't have an official start date ith UVM. He's currently coaching the South Burlington 9 and 10 year old little league team playing in tthe eastern regionals in Rhode Island.
