Red Sox rally stuns Yankees as Hanley Ramirez hits walk-off homer
Welcome to The Walk Off, the nightly MLB recap from Big League Stew. Here we’ll look at the top performers of the night, show you a must-see highlight and rundown the scoreboard. First, we start with a game you need to know about.
With their loaded lineup the Boston Red Sox are never out of a game. Not even when facing one of the top relievers in baseball.
The Red Sox roared back to beat the New York Yankees 7-5 on Thursday night, scoring five runs in the ninth against Dellin Betances as Hanley Ramirez delivered the final blow with a walk-off homer.
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Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka had kept Boston’s offense quiet, going seven innings and giving up just one run. The Red Sox got one back in the eighth when David Ortiz hit one out of the park for the 537th time in his major-league career, passing Mickey Mantle on the all-time list, but they still trailed 5-2 heading into the bottom of the ninth.
After reliever Blake Parker hit Chris Young with a pitch with one out, Betances was summoned from the bullpen by Yankees manager Joe Girardi for the third straight day. Betances’ fatigue was obvious. He walked Dustin Pedroia and then after getting an out on a fielder’s choice, allowed back-to-back RBI singles to Ortiz and Mookie Betts to make it 5-4.
Up came Ramirez with two men on and he came up with the biggest hit of them all, a drive deep to center field, to end it. What a scene it was at Fenway Park, adding another layer to this already epic rivalry.
The win keeps Boston two games ahead of the Orioles and Blue Jays in the American League East, a division race which promises to go right down to the wire. Expect more crazy finishes like this one in the coming weeks.
TOP PERFORMERS
Evan Longoria: Longoria drove in five of the Tampa Bay Rays’ seven runs in a 7-6 win over the Baltimore Orioles. Three of those RBIs came from a home run in the first inning, giving Longoria 33 on the season to tie his career high set in 2009.
Andrew McCutchen: McCutchen mashed two home runs as the Pittsburgh Pirates pounded the Philadelphia Phillies 15-2. This hasn’t been a banner year for the Pirates star center fielder, hitting .250/.331/.426 after four straight seasons with an OBP over .400 and that’s a big reason Pittsburgh is way back in the wild-card race.
Josh Donaldson: Slump? What slump? Donaldson broke out of his 0-for-23 skid in a big way in the Toronto Blue Jays’ 7-2 win against the Los Angeles Angels. The 2015 AL MVP went 3-for-3 with two walks and two runs scored to keep Toronto two games back of the Red Sox in the AL East.
MUST-SEE HIGHLIGHT
The Chicago Cubs had to wait a few hours to officially clinch the NL Central title after losing to the Milwaukee Brewers 5-4.
So while Cubs fans at Wrigley Field won’t get to celebrate winning the division until Friday, they did get to see this monster Jorge Soler two-run shot in the second inning. Holy smokes, that was pitch was absolutely destroyed.
THE REST OF THE SCOREBOARD
Twins 5, Tigers 1: Brian Dozier didn’t homer, but he reached base three times and drove in two runs for Minnesota.
White Sox 2, Indians 1: Carlos Sanchez delivered the walk-off single in the ninth for Chicago, scoring Leury Garcia.
Athletics 14, Royals 5: Daniel Mengden pitched seven shutout innings, racking up six strikeouts, and Stephen Vogt had a home run and five RBIs.
Diamondbacks 7, Dodgers 3: Rich Hill gave up runs, four of them in 5 1/3 innings, for the first time since being traded to Los Angeles.
Giants 6, Cardinals 2: Johnny Cueto went all nine innings, giving up two runs on five hits and a walk and striking out seven.
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Israel Fehr is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at israelfehr@yahoo.ca or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr
