Boston Red Sox: Kike Hernandez propels Sox in extras vs Yankees

The Boston Red Sox won the weekend series against the New York Yankees when they won 3-2 in the 10th inning on Sunday night. The Sox are coming off a loss on Saturday night 3-1 and won on Friday.

The Red Sox are back to .500 after falling below following the loss on Saturday. These two wins match the road wins total against the Yankees last season. The Sox are now 3-0 in extras this season after defeating the Guardians and Twins in April.

Brayan Bello got the nod for the Sox and he had an impressive start where he limited the Yankees to 2 runs on three hits and got 63 strikes out of 98 pitches while pitching seven innings. One of the batters that Bello was able to retire was Anthony Rizzo who went 0-for-3 which makes his streak of 24 hitless at-bats which is the longest of his career.

Kenley Jansen pitched the 9th inning free of trouble and he was credited with the win while Caleb Martin was able to shut down the Yanks in the 10th to earn his 1st save as a member of the Red Sox.

Christian Arroyo took the day off and Kike started at second base while Pablo Reyes started at shortstop for the Sox.

Red Sox Player of the game: Kike Hernandez carried the Sox to victory

Before the 8th inning, Hernandez had a quiet day at the plate while he flied out and grounded out. The game was 2-1 and the sole run was a solo homer by designated hitter Justin Turner in the 2nd inning.

Then in the 8th inning, Hernandez hit a single and then advanced on a throwing error by second baseman Gleyber Torres and he tied the game via a RBI Groundout by Jarren Duran. Duran was in center field in place of Duvall.

In the 10th inning, Hernandez hit the go-ahead RBI single that brought home Adam Duvall, who was the pinch runner for Turner who was the ghost runner at second base due to extra innings.

That hit was Hernandez’s 2nd career go-ahead RBI in extra innings, which came in the win against the Oakland Athletics on July 2, 2021.

Red Sox play of the game: Yoshida shows athleticism in the outfield

In the 4th inning, potential all-star Masataka Yoshida made a sliding catch on what would’ve been an extra base hit by Billy McKinney.

As the announcers in the following clip noted that it was one of the most difficult part of the ballpark at Yankee Stadium.

This is the biggest stage for Yoshida so far in his MLB career because this is his first exposure to the vaunted Red Sox-Yankees rivalry and he’s handled it well.

It won’t be long until the rivals face each other off again as they’ll play next weekend in Boston. In the meantime, the Sox will travel back to Fenway to face the Colorado Rockies from Monday-Wednesday. The Yankees will play a 2-game Subway series against the New York Mets at Citi Field.