Boston Red Sox
Whoever wins on Sunday afternoon will have a tiebreaker over the other in the American League.
Brayan Bello gave up three runs in the third inning of the Red Sox loss Saturday night. (AP Photo/Corey Sipkin)
Red Sox fans didn’t get much time to celebrate the team’s decisive win on Saturday afternoon. In the evening match of the doubleheader, the Yankees punched back and returned the favor.
New York capitalized on some inconsistent pitching out of the gate from Brayan Bello, who didn’t start Saturday but piggybacked off of Alec Gamboa in the second inning. He settled in later, but loaded the bases in the third inning allowing the Yankees to take a 3-1 lead early.
Bello gave up one more run before his night was done, but Raymond Burgos didn’t fare much better. And with a loaded weekend slate and a depleted bullpen, Chad Tracy elected to swallow Saturday night’s pill and let Burgos pitch out the rest of the eighth inning despite giving up five runs.
There wasn’t much offense to speak of on Boston’s side, a complete 180 from their 6-0 win earlier in the day. Nick Sogard homered to start things up in the Bronx, but after that the Red Sox bats fell silent. A Willson Contreras deep drive into the corner drove in a run in the eighth, but it wasn’t nearly enough.
The split set up an ultimate, season-long rubber match on Sunday afternoon.
Heading into the final four-game bout this weekend, Boston held a 4-3 lead over New York in the overall series, a potentially critical race to win as it would grant one team a playoff tiebreaker over the other. Now the franchises are gridlocked, and whoever comes away with the win will earn that advantage.
That could become a serious factor in the postseason, too. The Yankees are only up three games on Boston heading into September. Both are near locks to reach the playoffs, but the seeding is far from set in stone. So beyond the rivalry grudge match importance, Sunday’s matchup is going to hold serious weight.
It’ll be Ranger Suarez on the mound against Will Warren for the tilt. First pitch is set for 1:35 p.m. in the Bronx.
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