On a tense night in the Bronx, the New York Yankees failed to take advantage of an unbeatable opportunity in the ninth inning with the bases loaded and no outs against closer Aroldis Chapman, who returned to Yankee Stadium as an executioner in the Boston Red Sox jersey. After three consecutive singles by Goldschmidt, Judge and Bellinger, it seemed that the home team would stage the dream comeback.
However, Chapman was unfazed, striking out Giancarlo Stanton, forcing Jazz Chisholm Jr. to hit a fly ball that did not bring in any runs and closing with a strikeout of Trent Grisham to silence the stadium and seal Boston’s 3-1 victory in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series.
Max Fried dominates, but Yankees’ bullpen lets lead slip away
The night looked promising for the Yankees with Max Fried on the mound. The left-hander, in his postseason debut with New York, threw 6.1 scoreless innings, overcoming moments of danger in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. With a solo home run by Anthony Volpe in the second, the Yankees had a minimal lead, but enough to think about a win with the traditional formula: open solidly and close with their bullpen.
However, everything collapsed with Fried’s departure. Luke Weaver‘s relief was a disaster, he faced three batters, did not get outs and allowed a single by Masataka Yoshida that drove in two runs and turned the score around. Thus, the Red Sox went from being at a disadvantage to taking absolute control of the game in the blink of an eye.
Garrett Crochet and Aroldis Chapman execute perfect plan from the mound
For Boston, Garrett Crochet, in his first postseason start, pitched 8.2 innings of total dominance with 11 strikeouts, no walks and just one run allowed. He retired 18 of 19 consecutive batters in one stretch.
When Crochet reached 117 pitches, Alex Cora called on Aroldis Chapman, who came in with the task of getting the last four outs of the game. In total, the Red Sox used only two pitchers to win Game 1 in the Bronx, leaving the Yankees under pressure to win two consecutive games if they want to stay alive in the postseason.
With this defeat, the Yankees face a devastating historical fact, no team has come back from a best-of-three wild-card series after losing the first game since this format was implemented. In addition, the Red Sox have won eight of the last nine playoff games against New York.
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