Bogaerts and Devers Shine as Sox Lose Opener to Yanks
Last night was Opening Day for the Red Sox and what better challenge then to start the season against their rivals form the big apple. At a time, the 2022 season looked as if it wouldn't even start due to the lockout, but after much back and forth and a few hundred board meetings it was finally the green light we were looking for. That saturation of our winter only pushed the games back a coupe weeks, and as if we weren't teased enough, especially over the last three seasons as any Red Sox fan will tell you, Thursday's original Opening Day was also postponed into yesterday.
When the dust settled and all the players made their way to the diamond, all the talk was over and it was time for another storied chapter in the legacy of the greatest sports rivalry ever.,
And what a start it was! The Red Sox would come out of the gate like a bull in a china shop, scoring three runs in the first inning including a two-run bomb by MVP-hopeful Rafael Devers. The Sox would see seven batters in that inning alone causing Yankees ace to throw twenty-seven pitches before he got to finally sit down.
The inning wasn't done there, as soon as the Yankees switched the bats around it was time to see what the Bronx Bombers were bringing to the table this year. Their biggest free agent signing this year Anthony Rizzo wasn't in the mood to be patient as he also would hit a two-run skyrocket over the right field wall making the score 3-2.
The game would never get more interesting but both teams would drag out a run ever couple innings before D.J. Lamahieu would hit a single-fly in the 8th inning that would tie this game up and bring the Yankees crowd out of their feet with fits of joy.
Much in the fashion of close Sox Yankees games, this would go into extra innings with both teams having dug deep into their bag of bullpens. The Sox would bust out four pitcher over the next two innings while the Yankees only one and that would be the difference. The biggest signing from last season Josh Donaldson would hit the game-winning RBI in the bottom of the 11th to send the home crowd away ecstatic.
This game was not a total negative for the Red Sox. The couple of positive takeaways include Devers starting the year off running with a homer. Eovaldi went five innings with seven strikeouts in a decent performance to start his season. Lastly, Xander Bogaerts was the best batter in the ballpark, going three-of-five with an RBI and a run. The big three of Bogaerts, Devers and Martinez all had at least one RBI and one hit.
The biggest negative beside the loss was the upsetting start to Trevor Story's Red Sox career. He went-0-for-5 and missed a line drive down the second base gap and while it was disappointing, there are one-hundred sixty-one games left for him to show why he was worth $140 million.
The Sox and Yankees play again tonight in the Bronx and give the lovable losers a chance to redeem themselves before the move on to Detroit.
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Make sure to stay tuned as we continue coverage of the Red Sox and Yankees through the 2022 season.
-Z.D.