The Boston Red Sox and NY Yankees will meet in the Bronx tonight for a critical series that could tighten up or broadly widen the race for first place in the American League east.
The Red Sox come into the series with a four and a half game lead over the Yankees after the Yanks were shut out 4-0 against the Blue Jays in Toronto last night. It looked on paper like a potentially good night for the Yankee offense, which can pile up runs in a hurry when it's clicking, and Blue Jays starter Marco Estrada was lugging an 0-5 record and an ERA over seven into the contest.
But despite having runners in scoring position in five different innings against Estrada, none of those ducks got off the pond. Instead, the veteran pitched into the seventh and the Yankees mustered just six total hits on the night. Jose Bautista homered for Toronto and the newly acquired Sonny Gray took the loss for the Yankees, giving up three runs, two earned, over six innings. The former Oakland A's ace struck out six but also walked four and is winless in his first two starts as a Yankee.
So the Red Sox will hope the Yankees bats remain muted when they meet in the Bronx tonight, with Eduardo Rodriguez getting the start for Boston against another recently acquired pitcher, Jaime Garcia, going for New York.
Not much has gone right for the NY Mets this season, but they took out some of their frustration on the far more hapless Philadelphia Phillies last night in a 10-0 rout in the city of cheese steaks. Jacob de Grom pitched into the seventh, allowing just four hits while striking out nine and not issuing a walk. This being the Mets, a team that could have fielded a separate squad just from the players that landed on the disabled list this year, there was a moment of "oh, no, not again" when de Grom took a line drive off his arm, just above the elbow, but even though he left the game as a precaution, X-Rays were negative and he was left with nothing worse than an impressive bruise. Wilmer Flores, Neil Walker, Curtis Granderson, and Michael Conforto all went yard to give de Grom mire than enough run support.
In the NY Penn League, after getting shut out one night earlier, the the Vermont Lake Monsters turned the tables on Batavia Muckdogs in a 6-0 win at Centennial Field last night. Lake Monsters pitchers Wyatt Marks and Parker Dunshee combined to allow just two hits over seven innings in the victory. The Monsters scored two unearned runs in the first and added two more in the second when Ryan Gridley drove in two with an RBI single. The Monsters maintain their one and a half game lead over Tri City for first place in the Stedler division and now hit the road to take on the State College Spikes in Pennsylvania.
Little league championship hopes have ended for the 11 and 12 year old Essex Junction all stars after they were ousted from the New England Regionals in an 8-5 loss to Portland, Maine yesterday. The loss was the second to the Maine State champs in the double elimination tournament, but Essex Junction didn't go down without a fight. Andrew Goodrich had a two-run home run and was 2-for-3 at the plate while teammate Jacob Reyome also had two hits and two RBIs in the loss.
Quite the shocker in men's tennis at the Rogers Cup in Montreal as 18 year old Canadian Denis Shapo-valov defeated the top-seeded Rafael Nadal in the tournament's third round yesterday, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6. Shapavalov was down 3-love in the second set after dropping the first and then mounted the astonishing comeback that thwarted Nadal's bid to regain his number one world ranking. Roger Federer advanced earlier after a third round victory but Shapavalov will be the talk of the tournament as he advances to the quarterfinals, the youngest player to do so in the Rogers Cup since Bjorn Borg back in 1974.
After one day of play at the PGA championship, Thorbjorn Olesen of Denmark leads the field along with American Kevin Kisner, both with a four stroke lead over the rest of the field. All eyes of course are on Jordan Spieth, who's vying to complete a career grand slam but needs to win this tournament to do it, and he's off to a rough start, shooting a one over par 72 in round one at Quail Hollow.