Boston Red Sox: Rafael Devers, Andrew Benintendi big in defeat over Yankees

Boston Red Sox rookies, Rafael Devers and Andrew Benintendi power the Sox to an extra inning win with clutch hitting in the late innings.

Boston Red Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi had quite the series against the New York Yankees this past weekend, going 5/13 with 3 home runs in 3 games.

Benintendi came through for the Red Sox yet again, driving in the go ahead run in the 10th inning with a bases loaded single to plate across his 9th RBI of the series.

This came however following an incredibly clutch and rare home run against Aroldis Chapman in the 9th inning, off the bat of 20-year old rookie, Rafael Devers.

The 1-2 pitch was a fastball that came in at 102.8 MPH and was hit even faster with a 105.9 MPH exit velocity to tie the game up at 2-2.

Devers is just the 2nd left-handed batter to ever hit a home run off Aroldis Chapman and boy did it come at a convenient time for Boston. The last one came 6 years ago.

The at bat was also his first ever against Chapman and with it’s result, Devers became the youngest Red Sox player to hit a game tying home run in the 9th inning since 1965.

Devers is now batting .328 with 4 home runs in 58 at bats while Benintendi’s average sits at .279 with 16 homers after this weekend series.

The series finale was also quite interesting to say the least for Sox Ace, Chris Sale.

Chris Sale vs Yankees

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Run support has been at all time minimum for Chris Sale in a handful of his starts, most notably those against the Yankees.

Despite 7.0 innings, 1 run, and 12 strikeouts, Sale was unable to get his 15th win of the season.

Chris Sale has allowed 3 earned runs in 3 outings against the Yankees while receiving just 2 runs of support from the Red Sox offense.

Sale however did add to his credentials this season, becoming the franchises 2nd all-time leader in 10+ strikeout games (16). Sale trails baseball Hall of Famer and former Red Sox, Pedro Martinez who recorded 19 back in 1999.

Martinez was also named the American League Cy Young Award winner which is frankly ironic considering Sale’s convincing run this season at the Award for his debut season in Boston he’s put together.

Sale currently leads the American League in the following:

• Wins (14)
• Strikeouts (241)
• Innings Pitched (168.1)
• ERA (2.51)
• AVG (.191)
• WHIP (0.88)
• K_9 (12.89)

So yeah, the stats remain on Sale’s side for now while there is plenty of time left until Major League Baseball announces the winner come November.

Next: The 5 Greatest Boston Red Sox Shortstops of All-Time

The Boston Red Sox on the other hand, take a 5.5 game lead over the Yankees as they next take on the Cleveland Indians in a makeup game.