After a four game sweep at the hands of the Red Sox, the NY Yankees found the Sox of a different color to be a less formidable opponent.
Riding an excellent pitching performance from the recently acquired Lance Lynn, the Yankees shut out the White Sox in Chicago 7-0 last night, the former Minnesota Twin giving up just two hits while throwing eight innings to pick up his first victory in a Yankee uniform.
Lynn also pitched well in a relief appearance against Baltimore, spelling an ineffective Sonny Gray, who was then relegated to the Yankee bullpen in a loss that would be the first of five in a row, a season high for the team with the second best record in baseball.
Gleyber Torres hit his 18th home run of the year for New York and Neil Walker also went yard with a two-run shot. The White Sox had been on a bit of a run, winners of four in a row, but had to settle last night for a highlight reel catch by Adam Engel, who stole a home run from Greg Bird with a terrific leaping grab at the center field wall, and a position player, infielder Matt Davidson, pitching the ninth inning and striking out slugger Giancarlo Stanton, but the night belonged to the Yankees and Lynn, breaking the five game skid and gaining back half a game in their pursuit of the Red Sox, who still enjoy a nine game advantage after that sweep in Boston.
The Red Sox had a day off yesterday to bask in the warm glow of brooming their ancient rivals, but there's a ton of baseball still to be played and Boston would be wise not to let up on the gas pedal in the race for the A.L. east division crown. To that point, it's a pretty big start for lefty Drew Pomeranz tonight in Toronto against the Blue Jays. Pomeranz has struggled mightily this season, missing most of the campaign with injury and not pitching very well in the starts he's made since coming back. The Blue Jays will be rested as well, as they were idle last night.
For the NY Mets, it's all about next year, and so they're giving some rookies a shot at making an impression, and Jeff McNeil is taking advantage of the opportunity. The rookie second baseman homered in the Mets' 6-4 win over the Cincinnati Reds last night. McNeil has played in 12 games for the Mets since his call up from Triple A and is 12 for 33 with two homers in that span. He's also garnering attention for a strange looking bat he favors that has no knob on the end as a traditional bat does. Kevin Plawecki homered and Noah Syndergaard picked up the win, striking out six over six innings of work.
The Vermont Lake Monsters had stifled the Lowell Spinners offense Sunday night, shutting them out in a 4-0 win, but it was a different story last bnight as the Spinners jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first inning and never looked back, topping the Monsters 11-3 in Massachusetts.
In the Little League New England regional tournament yesterday, the 11 and 12 year old from Coventry, Rhode Island defeated South Burlington 10-0, forcing the Vermonters into an elimination game tonight against New Hampshire. South Burlington managed just three hits against the Rhode Islanders, a double by Andrew Bouffard, and singles by Bennett Campbell and Kevin Dowling.
After one round of play at the Vermont State Women's Golf Association amateur championship at the Country Club of Vermont, Miranda Milne leads the field with a 1-over round of 73. Milne collected four birdies on the day.
Alburg's Andrea Brown, the 2004 champ, is behind Milne after a 2-over 74 that included five birdies.
And for a third year in a row, the fittest man on Earth hails from the Green Mountain State. Vermont native Mat Fraser won the CrossFit Games, the two time defending champion piling up 1,162 of a possible 1,400 points to win the grueling, five-day competition, which included a marathon rowing race of 26.2 miles.
