After picking up five consecutive road wins, the Yankees returned to the Bronx recharged for the classic against the Red Sox, but the first round between the two American League powerhouses did not end very well for the Bombers. Boston stormed the New York stronghold and took a resounding victory with great work from their pitchers and a key home run from Roman Anthony.
But the Yankees didn’t do much to win, as they committed four errors and gave away nine walks, a suicidal combination that completely buried their chances. Luis Gil, in his third start since returning from the injured list, gave away five free passes, while Camilo Doval, Luke Weaver and Tim Hill also walked Red Sox batters.
Meanwhile, Ben Rice, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Gil himself failed one after another on defense in the second inning and gave Boston its first run. Then, in the ninth, Paul Goldschmidt also made an error and Roman Anthony took advantage of it with a two-run homer. In this way, the New Yorkers allowed the Red Sox to score three unearned runs.
Despite the debacle, Chisholm said he was not worried about the errors because of the quality of the team: “I feel like we have great defenders, we have a bunch of Gold Glovers in the infield,” said the second baseman in comments that have not gone down well with a fan base that expects a cleaner performance.
A historic disaster
No Major League team had failed at least four times on defense and issued nine or more walks since July 2, 2019, six years ago, when the Texas Rangers committed four errors and gave away 11 walks against the Angels.
The Yankees, on the other hand, had not had such a combination of wildness and poor defenseso evident for almost 30 years. The last time the team committed four errors and walked nine opponents in the same game was on May 1, 1996, during a marathon 15-inning game against Baltimore.
Strangely enough, despite the defensive lapses and the lack of control of their pitchers, they managed to win 11-6, with great relief from left-hander Andy Pettite and a decisive grand slam by Tino Martinez.
In the last 50 years, that is just one of nine victories by the 63 teams that have committed at least four errors and conceded nine or more walks in a single game. This imbalance is not surprising, because the combination of deficiencies with the glove and problems with control usually sinks the best of teams
In their entire history, the Yankees have had 18 games with at least four errors and nine walks, of which they have lost 11, with six wins and a draw.
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