The Yankees had a goal in mind during the series against the Astros. The Red Sox looked to end the first half on a good note. The Rays and Jays each had a mission to gain ground on each other. Let’s see what happened over the weekend and what is coming up this week after the All-Star break for the MLB American League East. MLB American League East
BOSTON RED SOX
The Red Sox lost two of three to the Phillies. Garrett Richards went five innings and gave up three runs in game one. J.D. Martinez hit his 18th home run of the season and Enrique Hernandez hit his 11th. Christian Vazquez went 2-for-4 with a walk. The offense scored 11 runs to win the game while the Phillies were held to five runs.
The Phillies responded with 11 runs of their own during game two as Martin Perez couldn’t last long. He pitched 3.2 innings and gave up three runs. Josh Taylor and Brandon Workman gave up seven runs combined. Xander Bogaerts hit his 14th home run of the season. Alex Verdugo went 2-for-4 and Martinez went 0-for-2 with two walks.
The series finale was a bit closer but not enough for the Sox to win. Nick Pivetta pitched four innings and gave up 5 runs. Marwin Gonzalez left the game with an injury and will most likely land on the IL. The Sox defense had three errors in the game. The offense was a run too shy from tying it. MLB American League East
Because MLB insists on having a game on the Thursday after the All-Star Game, the Red Sox will face the Yankees in the Bronx for four games. I said this before and it turned out both series weren’t for me but this series should be exciting.
More from Hernandez – who’s not happy that the #RedSox and Yankees are the two teams that only get a 3 day All-Star Break. Plus, the Sox 5 All-Stars having no time off. (Agree with him on this matter. Sox get no hep from #MLB on this one). @wbz #wbz pic.twitter.com/wYFBPtBM3D — Dan Roche (@RochieWBZ) July 9, 2021
TAMPA BAY RAYS
An important series for the Rays to close out the first half. The Rays took the first game with Shane McClanahan taking the hill. He pitched 4 innings and gave up the only run the Jays scored. Taylor Walls and Brett Phillips went 2-for-4.
The Rays continued adding on to their lead on the Jays in game two. Ryan Yarbrough pitched five innings and gave up the two runs the Jays scored. Brandon Lowe went 2-for-3 with a walk. They couldn’t complete the sweep as the Jays won the final game for the series. Rich Hill went five innings and gave up three runs.
After the break, the Rays face the Braves over the weekend in Georgia. MLB American League East
NEW YORK YANKEES
After taking two of three against the Mariners, the Yankees had business to take care of against the Astros. The promo giveaway for the Astros “just so happened” to be the 2019 ALCS trophy replica and 2019 AL Champs ring replica during the first two games of the series. The Yankees just needed to take two of three.
And that they did.
You couldn’t ask for a better performance by Nestor Cortes Jr. He went 4.2 innings and shut down the Astros offense. Lucas Luetge, Chad Green, and Jonathan Loaisiga continued the shut down as the pitching held the Astros scoreless. Gleyber Torres and Gio Urshela went 2-for-4 while Aaron Judge and DJ LeMahieu both went 2-for-5. Jake Odorizzi is a familiar face for the offense when they faced him with the Rays and Twins. They scored two runs off of him and later scored two more runs off of Bryan Abreu.
DOMINANCE
Gerrit Cole had a lot of pressure for game two. He was pitching against Zach Greinke and it was his first visit to Minute Maid Park since 2019. The Astros presented a tribute video to him before the game.
Aaron Judge the savage pic.twitter.com/QQt7RZUmrm — Yankees Baseball (@yanksbaseball25) July 11, 2021
Cole was just pure dominance during his outing. He pitched a complete-game shutout and threw 129 pitches. Aaron Judge scored the only run in the game with a home run and paid a little tribute to Jose Altuve as he rounded the bases. Boone came to the mound in the 9th and questioned Cole if he had enough for one more batter. Cole was determined to finish the game and he did with a strikeou