Everything was set up for absolute pandemonium at Fenway Park on Friday night. The crowd was ready to erupt at any moment, and the moment just never came. Aaron Judge hit a ball to Jupiter in the top of the first inning, and the air was taken out of the room. Lucas Giolito kept the team in the game, but the lone threat came in the fifth inning. Luis Gil walked the first two hitters of the inning and then balked them over to second and third. A popout, strikeout, and flyout later, and the threat was over.
I will say, at that point, the crowd was in a frenzy, and Gil was clearly rattled despite having a no-hitter going. When he needed a minute to compose himself, the Pitchcom device happened to stop working, giving Gil some extra time to slow his heart rate and find a way to throw strikes. Now, I’m not calling Gil a liar, but he was certainly lying about the pitchcom not working. There’s no good way to tell a real malfunction from a fake one, but there should be some consequences for faking it. I’m not saying that was the reason for the loss. If I were on the other side of it, I’d probably call it gamesmanship. In the moment, though, it was frustrating, and should be policed somehow.
Outside of the fifth inning rally, the Red Sox never really threatened to score. Neither team played particularly well, but the Yankees got hits and the Red Sox did not. Go get ‘em tomorrow. We move.
Lucas Giolito (5 2/3 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K)
Giolito made it through 5 2/3 innings, allowing a single earned run and two runs total. His changeup didn’t have the impactfulness it usually does, but his fastball and slider both did the job. The offense didn’t provide any run support, but Giolito gave the team a chance to win. You can’t ask for much more than that.
Eaton hit his second career home run; it was pretty cool.
Before I left for the game, I asked him to pick a number from one to nine. He picked eight. Nate Eaton was eighth in the Red Sox batting order, and I had a bonus bet in my unnamed sportsbook account (No free ads). I placed the bet on Eaton to hit a home run, and walked out of the game $50 richer. Thanks, Branden.
He catcher interfered (twice). One of them wasn’t called, but the second directly led to a Yankee run. He also couldn’t pick a throw home from David Hamilton, though I’m not sure it would’ve netted an out anyway.
Wilson couldn’t keep the deficit at two. He’s been great all season, but didn’t quite have it tonight.
The entire lineup besides Nate Eaton
We had two hits. Drew some walks, but only two hits. Super lame if you ask me.
