Red Sox pitching carries team to doubleheader sweep vs Yankees

The Boston Red Sox swept a doubleheader and the series on Father’s Day after Saturday’s game got rained out.

The Sox are coming off a 15-5 thrashing on Friday night which brought them to over .500 after a recent slump.

At least right now the Sox are owning the New York Yankees in the big rivalry taking two of three last weekend and then sweeping the series this weekend. Outside of that the Sox have been wildly inconsistent especially recently, and their defense was one of the causes of the mess.

But remember this is a Yankees squad without Aaron Judge, so the Sox have been taking advantage of the loss that the Yankees have, especially the pitching staff used in today’s doubleheader.

This is the first time the Red Sox had swept a doubleheader against the Yankees since September 17, 2006, at Yankee Stadium and in Fenway Park since July 31, 1976.

Red Sox pitching staff carried the torch in both games

After Tanner Houck got injured on the line drive in Friday’s contest, he was put on the 15-day Injured List. In response, the Sox recalled Kaleb Ort and had him make his first MLB start.

It was a short start as would be expected as Ort has been a career reliever so for the Red Sox. He went 2 1/3 innings where he allowed the only scoring that the Yankees had in the 1st inning which was a 2-run homer from Gleyber Torres. He also struck out 4 batters and gave up the only walk that the whole pitching staff gave in the whole game which was to right fielder Billy McKinney.

Ort’s start was not bad, but if he stays in the majors he’s likely to stay in the bullpen.

The Sox also designated relief pitcher Chris Murphy as the 27th man for the doubleheader, and he was able to pitch 2 2/3 innings where he struck out three and allowed a double to Jake Bauers.

Nick Pivetta pitched the majority of the game when he pitched three hitless innings where he also struck out four batters. To close Game 1 out, Caleb Martin finished it out in the 9th.

In Game 2, Sox rising star Brayan Bello pitched a quality 7 innings where he allowed the only run the Yankees would score which was an RBI groundout by Anthony Rizzo. He struck out 8 batters which is his career high and he allowed four hits and walked three. He was finished out with Josh Winchkowski before Jansen pitched the 9th for his 15th save of the season.

Red Sox player of the day: Alex Verdugo was a hitting machine

In Game 1, Verdugo hit two doubles, which brought his total to 24 doubles in the season. He also walked in the third inning which he score the first run after being down 2-0 off an RBI Groundout by Devers.

In the 6th inning, both Connor Wong and Dugie hit consecutive RBI Doubles which helped the Sox gain the lead that they would never let go of. Dugie then scored off an RBI Single from Turner.

In Game 2, Dugie hit 2 singles and scored on both of those trips around the bases. In the 4th he scored when Yankees catcher Kyle Higashioka interfered with the bat of Reese McGwire and the bases were loaded. The in the 5th, Dugie scored off a ground rule double by Triston Casas which also brought home Duran for the final runs of the game.

Red Sox play of the day: Pablo Reyes shows his inner Tatis on defense

In the 2nd inning of Game 2, Pablo Reyes made double jump catch off the bat of Yankees right fielder Oswaldo Cabrera.

It was an amazing catch that was one of the defensive highlights for the Sox in this game.

It was similar to a viral catch that Fernando Tatis Jr made 2 years ago against the Washington Nationals where former Sox play-by-play commentator freaked out at the athleticism.

He could be a solid piece at shortstop despite Hernandez getting back the role at times after being relieved of duties at short earlier this week for his errors, letting him use his super utility player skills.

The Sox will travel to Minneapolis for a four-game series against the Minnesota Twins starting on Monday at 7:40 first pitch on NESN.