Red Sox crush Gerrit Cole, sweep Yankees again with dominant 9-2 victory

The Red Sox had already done the job this weekend by taking the first two games and another series win over the Yankees, but they clearly weren’t satisfied.

On Sunday, the Red Sox made another statement that this is a brand new season in the rivalry.

After two consecutive seasons of being dominated by the Yankees, the Red Sox have ripped away full control. It started earlier this month, when they ended their hex at Yankee Stadium with a three-game sweep in the Bronx, and it continued this weekend. On Sunday, the Red Sox overmatched Yankees ace Gerrit Cole early and never looked back in a complete 9-2 victory to finish another sweep.

In 2019 and 2020, the Red Sox went a combined 6-23 against the Yankees, but they’ve flipped the script. They’re now 6-0 against their rivals this season, sweeping them in consecutive series for the first time since 2009, when they opened the year by reeling off eight straight.

This one, surprisingly, was rarely in doubt.

The Red Sox faced one of their toughest matchups of the season in Cole, but never looked afraid against the highest paid pitcher in baseball history. They put up a four-spot on the right-hander in the first — fueled by a first-pitch home run from Kiké Hernandez and a three-run blast by Rafael Devers, who smashed a 100 mph fastball 451 feet to the right field seats to give the Sox a commanding early lead.

Cole had his worst start of the season, giving up a season-high six runs, with five earned, in five innings, which matched his shortest start of the season. The Red Sox teed off on him for three homers, including a solo shot from J.D. Martinez.

It was Eduardo Rodriguez who looked more like the ace as he made another encouraging start, throwing six strong innings and allowing two runs. He was pitching a shutout until the sixth, when Aaron Judge hammered a poorly thrown fastball to Lansdowne Street for a two-run shot.

The Yankees threatened again in the seventh as Garrett Whitlock relieved a struggling Dawinzon Hernandez. Whitlock walked pinch hitter Gary Sanchez to load the bases but bounced back to strike out D.J. LeMahieu and pop out Judge to end the inning, yet another huge moment for the former Yankees farmhand.

The Red Sox (47-31) rolled from there, as Devers drove in his fourth run in the seventh to complete a terrific seventh before Christian Vazquez homered in the eighth to put the game out of reach.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2U4yRSf