Thursday night at Fenway Park, the Yankees and Red Sox opened the biggest series of the 2018 season to date. They own the two best records in baseball, and it's the latest into the season they've met with the two best records since the Game 163 tiebreaker in 1978.
The Yankees are trying to catch the Red Sox for the AL East lead, but the series did not start well for New York. Well, actually, it did. Didi Gregorius hit a three-run home run in the first inning and Aaron Hicks added a solo shot in the second to give the Yankees a quick 4-0 lead. It was all downhill from there though. The Red Sox outscored the Yankees 15-3 the rest of the game and won 15-7 (box score).
Boston took control of the game with an eight-run fourth inning, which included the second of Steve Pearce's three home runs.
The season series is now tied 5-5 and, amazingly enough, five of those 10 games have been decided by at least seven runs. Three of them have been decided by at least 10 runs. The two AL East rivals have played some very lopsided games this season, Thursday night included.
For the Yankees, Thursday's game came apart with their middle relievers on the mound. CC Sabathia labored all night and needed 77 pitches to complete three innings, though he did strand six baserunners. He bent but did not break. The bullpen broke big time, however. Jonathan Holder, Chad Green, and Luis Cessa took this one on the chin after manager Aaron Boone decided not to let Sabathia face the lineup a third time.
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | HR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jonathan Holder | 0 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Chad Green | 2/3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Luis Cessa | 3 2/3 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Cessa pitched poorly, no doubt about that, but he gets a pass from me because he was just the mop-up guy soaking up innings in the blowout. By time he took the mound, the Yankees were already down 10-4. The important number for him is the 3 2/3 innings, not the five runs. Those are 3 2/3 innings other relievers didn't have pitch, leaving them fresh for the rest of the series.
As for Holder and Green ... wow, were they terrible. Especially Holder. He faced seven batters and retired zero. He's only the third Yankee ever to face seven batters without recording an out, joining Bob Kammeyer in 1979 and Fred Talbot in 1967. Green recorded two quick outs and was nearly able to limit the damage before the Red Sox strung together three straight two-out hits to tack on runs. Those two let the game slip away in the fourth inning.
"You don't want to go to your premium guys. (Boone) wasn't necessarily going to run Aroldis Chapman out there for three innings. I understand it," said Jonah Keri on CBS Sports HQ. "The game got away from the Yankees pretty quickly. It's one of those things that, it's probably not a big deal. The Red Sox just had their number all night. I wouldn't read too much into the decisions. They hit Sabathia pretty hard, they were into the 'pen pretty quickly. It was just the Red Sox night."
The bullpen has been an undeniable strength for the Yankees this season, so much so that even after allowing 13 earned runs in 4 1/3 innings Thursday night, they still lead baseball in bullpen ERA (3.13), bullpen strikeout rate (11.5 K/9), and bullpen WAR (6.9). Holder and Green have been a big part of that too. Prior to Thursday night the duo had combined for a 2.39 ERA and a 0.96 WHIP in 94 innings. And they were no better than the third and fourth best relievers in the bullpen behind Chapman and Dellin Betances.
Lately though, Holder and especially Green have struggled, and it's created something of a soft underbelly in New York's bullpen. Holder allowed earned runs in two of his five outings following the All-Star break -- that doesn't include Thursday -- after allowing earned runs in two of his previous 32 outings. Green, who was so excellent last season, and been giving up lots of hard contact the last month or so.
Holder and Green have been struggling in recent weeks, and those struggles came to a head Thursday night. Give the Red Sox credit for having a relentless offense and stringing together quality at-bat after quality at-bat, but Holder and Green had been having issues before this series started. Add in the recent Adam Warren trade and suddenly the middle of New York's bullpen doesn't look at formidable as it did earlier this year.
Now, that said, the Yankees can still throw Chapman, Betances, Zach Britton, and David Robertson at you in any given game, so they're not exactly hurting for high-end relievers. The issue now is that, with Holder and Green scuffling, there isn't as much depth as there once was. In games where the starter gets knocked out early, the Yankees aren't as equipped to hold the other team down. Thursday night was an extreme example, but an example.
Friday night the Yankees will send staff ace Luis Severino to the mound -- Severino has been struggling the last few times out as well -- which is good because they need innings after back-to-back short starts by Sabathia (three innings) and Sonny Gray (2 2/3 inning), and he is the starter most likely to give them length.
The Yankees are set up well for the end of games. It's the middle innings that are giving them trouble right now, moreso than at any other point this season.
