The Boston Red Sox put out an offensive dud on Friday against the New York Yankees. They scored one run via a Nate Eaton home run, one of two hits they recorded on the night.
Lucas Giolito started the game and kept the team in it despite the lack of firepower offensively. His final line read 5 2/3 innings, two runs (one earned), five hits, six strikeouts and one walk.
He used his fastball effectively, returning 63% strikes and four whiffs. His velocity was down about one mile per hour, but he kept the ball up in the zone and limited damage. His slider was excellent as well, returning eight whiffs.
The only major mistake he made came at the very beginning of the game, when he left a fastball over the middle of the plate against Aaron Judge, who sent the ball over the Green Monster. He allowed another run in the third inning, but it was unearned after catcher’s interference negated an out.
After the game, Giolito wasn’t happy with his performance despite a strong outing.
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“It wasn’t good enough. The other guy’s throwing zero after zero, I gotta match that for us to have a chance to win,” Giolito said, as seen on the NESN postgame show.
He’s referring to Luis Gil, who threw six hitless innings and earned the win in the series opener. Gil walked four hitters, but kept any of them from crossing home plate.
The Red Sox will have a hard time scoring runs on Saturday as Max Fried takes the ball for the Yankees in the second game of the series.
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