The Boston Red Sox have defeated the New York Yankees 4-3 in Game 4 of the ALDS. The Red Sox who finished the season with the most wins in the league will be facing the Houston Astros who completed a three-game sweep of the Cleveland Indians earlier this week in the ALCS starting on Friday. The Red Sox took Games 1, 3, and 4 while falling to the Yankees in Game 2 after David Price’s postseason struggles continued.
Game 4 was a close game between the Red Sox and Yankees, the Red Sox got out to an early 4-0 lead after the fourth inning when the Yankees scored in the fifth inning than tightened up the game in the ninth to make a 4-3 final score. The Red Sox even brought Chris Sale in during the 8th inning where he retired three batters on 13 pitches. Christian Vazquez’s home run in the fourth inning eventually became the game-winning run after the Yankees crawled back to a one-run deficit in the ninth inning.
The Red Sox powerhouse offense was very evident throughout the series especially in Game three when they defeated the Yankees 16-1. However, the highlight of Game three was the postseason history was made by Brock Holt. He hit a home run off of Austin Romine in the ninth inning of the game to complete Major League Baseball’s first-ever postseason cycle.
The Red Sox offense was clicking very well throughout the series but one of the negatives that can be noted from the series was the struggles of their pitching. David Price continued his terrible postseason reputation in Game two when he threw 1.2 IP and gave up three runs and was boo-ed of the field by the Red Sox Fans at Fenway Park. The Red Sox bullpen was also shaky in Game one allowing two runs which made it a one-run game.
The Yankees beat the Oakland Athletics in the AL Wildcard game and then went on to face the Red Sox, they only won one game in the ALDS their season is now over. The Yankees suffered a huge blow to team morale after losing to the Red Sox 16-1 in Game three, this loss caused fans to be blaming the team immensely, the crowd was booing the team consistently and overall team morale had to have suffered a big blow after losing by that much.
One thing to note about the Yankees defeat was that in Game three, there is an alleged accusation that Yankees pitcher Luis Severino was tipping his pitches. Jackie Bradley Jr. was caught calling the pitch out to Mookie Betts in the dugout during one of the at-bats and sure enough, Severino throws a fastball to Brock Holt on said pitch.
.@LouMerloni just nailed it. Red Sox had a beat on what was coming as early as the second inning. JBJ says “Fastball…” to Mookie before an 0-2 pitch to Holt, Severino pumps in 98 MPH fastball that Holt fouls away. pic.twitter.com/wLGR5dVDys
— Dan O’Mara (@Dan_OMara) October 9, 2018
The Yankees had a solid year however, their powerful lineup was not enough to outscore the Red Sox incredible offense. Having Nathan Eovaldi absolutely shut them down in game three throwing 7 innings only allowing one run was definitely a rally killer, they needed to get something going and they did not. The Yankees did not have as good of an offensive output as the Red Sox in the ALDS, they only combined for 14 runs compared to the Red Sox offense who put up a whopping 27 total runs.
The Red Sox are now moving onto their next opponent, the Houston Astros, this series will be a good competition between two teams full of talent. The series begins on Friday in Boston, the Astros coming off the sweep are looking to defend their World Series trophy from last year, and the Red Sox are looking to run them off course and head to the World Series for the first time since 2013.
