An early on offensive assault from the New York Yankees saw some personal milestones for both outfielder Aaron Judge and third baseman Gio Urshela in the team’s 5-2 win over the Boston Red Sox tonight – a victory which put the Yanks on a five-game tear.
Judge wasted no time earning his achievement in the first inning: a four-game home run streak which started against the Baltimore Orioles and has now extended to Boston’s righty starter, Zach Godley.
That first run, solo shot to section 235 of the left field bleachers turned out to be the first hit of a total eight on the Sox tonight.
Molten Hot. #AllRise pic.twitter.com/uKZruMDDHT
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) August 1, 2020
Urshela’s personal earning also came at the plate, this one in a second inning, bases loaded scenario.
He sent his first ever grand slam flying into straightaway centerfield, putting Yankees up 5-0 in what turned out to be the differentiator this game.
Giodude used Slam. pic.twitter.com/dPx2L0YfaG
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) August 1, 2020
It was thanks in part to catcher Gary Sanchez’s first hit of the year, a single through the gap at second which put all three ducks onto the pond.
Later in the fourth, Urshela bettered his evening even more by pulling off a crafty steal on Godley, taking second in between pitches to outfielder Brett Gardner.
After Gardner and then Judge walked to load the bases with two outs, short stop Gleyber Torres wasn’t able to keep the grand slam train a rollin’, instead he popped out to center.
Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka didn’t have the most ideal start after returning to the lineup from a frightening line drive to the head over the summer.
He let up two runs off a double to shortstop Xander Bogaerts in his 2.2 innings pitched, slashing the bombers early lead to 5-2 in the third inning.
Tanaka ended with those two runs, four hits, a walk, and three strikeouts before lefty Luis Avilán took over on the rubber.
“I wasn’t happy with my command,” Tanaka said through a translator after the game. “It’s been since spring training where I’ve been in a competitive game so I think there was some rust there,” he added, mentioning a lack of feeling “pinpoint command” in the bullpen ahead of his first return.
As for Avilán, his night in relief was solid letting up no hits and nabbing two K’s in 1.1 innings pitched.
The 24-year-old rookie righty Nick Nelson took over the mound in the fifth, making his major league debut in pinstripes.
He did just fine by striking out four, walking two, and letting up no hits in his three innings pitched.
First Major League strikeout comes on three pitches for @nick_nelson16 🔥 Welcome to the show 👊 pic.twitter.com/NcxaJ1MR05
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) August 2, 2020
“I thought he was terrific,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said on Nelson’s first night out. “We knew we were going to need to lean on some of younger potentially tonight…one of the things I’m so excited about are the young arms knocking on the doors and Nelon’s one of them.”
Righty David Hale stepped in for both the eighth and ninth innings where he bent towards the end, but didn’t break.
After putting runners on the corners with two outs against Sox left fielder Andrew Benintendi, Hale managed to hang on by getting a game sealing strikeout for the Yankees 5-2 victory.
He was awarded the save while Nelson picked up the win on his first major league venture.
Left fielder Mike Tauchman put up a 3 for 3 night at the plate while first baseman Luke Voit strung together two hits himself, the hitting machine known as second baseman DJ LeMahieu slowed down with an 0 for 4 night.
Both Judge and Urshela ended their nights on offense with only with the early homers to show.
The Yankees improve to 6-1 while Boston falls to 3-6 on the shortened season.
Both rivals finish the three game series that the Yankees lead 2-0 in tomorrow night, sparing the intercession of mother nature.
