Bronx, N.Y., April 12, 2015; Yankees 14, Red Sox 4 — The very first road game I ever attended was on April 7, 1969, when as a college student in our nation’s capital, I witnessed my Yankees beat the Senators 8-4 in their home opener at RFK Stadium. Mel Stottlemyre bested Camilo Pascual that day, largely on the strength of back-to-back home runs by Bobby Murcer and Jerry Kenney, the third baseman who would clear just one more fence the rest of the year. In 1970, he doubled that output to four long balls, and hit .193 for the year.
The 1-4 Yankees came into Sunday night’s ESPN game hosting the Boston Red Sox hitting that same .193 figure as a team. They had collected three, seven, seven and four hits around their 19-inning marathon loss Friday night, and on Saturday made three errors, not counting two dropped fly balls in the outfield resulting in four runs, in their latest loss, 8-4. But Sunday night they came out smoking, with seven runs in the first, with three home runs among 16 hits in a 14-4 drubbing of Clay Buccholz and the visiting Sox.
Truth be told, although the first-inning carnage ended loudly with Alex Rodriguez’s three-run double and back-bo-back jacks from Chase Headley and Stephen Drew, those were three of just four hits in the seven-run outburst. It all started oh so quietly as Brett Gardner directed a soft roller at the vacated shortstop position on a hit-and-run with Jacoby Ellsbury, who had walked leading off. Mike Napoli mishandled Carlos Beltran’s infield grounder for an error and the first run, and a Mark Teixeira walk reloaded the bases. A-Rod drilled Buccholz’s next pitch to the wall in left center, and the rout was on.
Masahiro Tanaka had a much better night for the Yanks than Boston’s Buccholz (who left in the fourth having surrendered 10 runs, nine of them earned), but the Japanese righthander’s results were mixed. He did retire nine of 11 through three, but struggled through a 38-pitch fourth inning in which he walked two and threw two wild pitches. Just two hits punctuated the visitors’ three-run rally, along with yet another error from the vaunted-for-its-defense Yankee infield when Drew threw high to Didi Gregorius on a potential double play ball; later, Didi would struggle with a ground ball and throw late to second, a play charitably ruled just a fielder’s choice. No matter, the Yanks still lead the league in errors.
Tanaka pitched through the fifth to earn the win, but was reached for a Hanley Ramirez home run when he threw a 92-mph fast ball on a full count. In velocity, it tied the heater he would throw while striking out Pando Sandoval to end the frame; earlier he had topped out at 91. Masahiro was effective hitting bats early — three of the first six outs were recorded on popups to the infield, but over all, the four strike outs and six swings and misses among 97 tosses were low numbers for him. The first three innings were encouraging and the 60/37 strikes to balls ratio and 15 of 23 first-pitch strikes were solid numbers, something he can build on.
David Carpenter and just-called-up veteran Kyle Davies finished up for the Yanks, who on offense pounded young lefty Tommy Layne for three more runs in the sixth. Brian McCann’s 0-1 liner to right leading off the home eighth off nominal closer Edward Mujica barely cleared the fence to end the night’s scoring. The offensive stars were Rodriguez, who scored one and drove in four; Headley, with a run scored and three rbi’s; and McCann, who scored three times and drove in one.
Yankee fans would be wise to consider what took place on this day last year, as they beat the visiting Red Sox 7-4 on five home runs. The home-run onslaught many envisioned for “the Bombers” going forward definitely did not materialize, and it would be foolish to assume that what transpired this night is more indicative of this team’s potential than what took place earlier in the week. There are offensive and defensive issues, though the mound work has been encouraging. On the other hand, take a moment to smile at a highlight from exactly two years earlier, when some clever infield work in a 5-2 win over the Orioles — tomorrow’s opponent, in Baltimore — led to a unique 4-6-5-6-5-3-4 triple play, on April 12, 2012.
On April 12, 1954, two of the greatest ever rock ‘n roll hits shared some history, as Bill Haley and the Comets recorded Rock Around the Clock on the same day Joe Turner released Shake, Rattle, and Roll, a tune Haley would later record as well. Borrowing from both titles, in recognition of the way Yankee Stadium rocked this evening, I’m calling this,
Shake, Rattle, Rock, and Roll!