Boston Red Sox fans didn't fret much when the team traded rookie pitcher Jalen Beeks to the Tampa Bay Rays for Nathan Eovaldi.
They'd seen Beeks pitch twice in a Red Sox uniform and neither appearance went well for the 25-year old. But he sure looked good for Tampa Bay yesterday in his return to Fenway Park facing his old team.
Beeks gave up just one hit over four innings of work as Tampa's bullpen combined to keep the league's best offense to a paltry two hits on the day in a 2-0 win. The Rays were employing their novel strategy of cobbling together a full game using multiple relievers from the start of the game to finish and it worked beautifully for them yesterday.
The Red Sox pitchers were nearly as good, with Hector Velazquez making a spot start for ace Chris Sale, who went back on the disabled list with shoulder inflammation. Velazquez yielded just one run, a homer by Joey Wendle, and the Rays were blanked the rest of the way until the 8th inning when Matt Barnes gave up another solo home run to C.J. Cron.
But the Rays pitchers were virtually untouchable, and got the win, just their fifth in sixteen tries against the Red Sox this season. The Red Sox try to get their groove back against the A.L. east leading Cleveland Indians in a four game series starting at Fenway tonight.
The NY Yankees were winners against the Toronto Blue Jays in a 10-2 romp yesterday at the Stadium, but the win came at a potentially high cost. Yankee short stop Didi Gregorius suffered a bruised heel on a collision at first base and could be headed to the disabled list. That would crowd a bench that already includes sluggers Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez. Gregorius is batting .270 this season with 22 home runs and 74 RBIs.
But the game itself was nothing but good news for the Yankees, with Greg Bird hitting a grand slam to give more than enough run support to starter and former Blue Jay J.A. Happ, who stifled his former team over five and two thirds, giving up two runs and seven hits while striking out eight.
What a thrill for the 11 and 12 year olds playing in the Little League World Series, who got see their heroes from the bigs play in front of them as part if the Little League Classic in Williamsport, Pennsylvania yesterday.
Players and families from the 16 teams watched the NY Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies 8-2 at Bowman Field, the 92-year-old home of the Phillies' Class A affiliate in the New York-Penn League, a venue that sits just 2,500 people. Amed Rosario had three hits and drove in three runs for the Mets in a game that kept the Phillies from taking sole possession of first place in the N.L. east.
And if the kids wanted some inspiration for making their own big league dreams come true, there were three players on that field who once played in the Little League World Series themselves, New York's Todd Frazier and Michael Conforto, and Philadelphia's Scott Kingery.
The Vermont Lake Monsters snapped a seven game losing streak with a 6-3 win over the Staten Island Yankees at centennial Field last night. The Monsters scored four runs in the fourth on a two-run single by Marcos Brito and a Jonah Bride two-run double.
It's day two of the Stowe Mountain Lodge Tennis Classic at Spruce Peak, and one of they key matches to watch today will feature American Bradley Klahn against Borna Coric of Croatia, who's ranked number 21 in the world in men's tennis and has a resume that includes wins against Alexander Zverev and Roger Federer.
In yesterday's matches Max Marterer of Germany defeated fellow countryman Yannick Hanfmann. Jeremy Chardy of France was a winner against American Noah Rubin with a tie-breaker in the second set, and a tie breaker also gave Deney Wasserman of Holland a straight sets victory over 17 year old junior player Chun Hsin Tseng of Taiwan. The Stowe Classic is considered a prime warm up tournament for the upcoming U.S. Open.
The UVM women's soccer team kicked off their new season with a 2-2 draw against American University. Aly Spencer struck twice for the Catamounts, both goals coming on penalty kicks.
