Yankees vs. Red Sox: Stats, Top Highlights from MLB's 1st Game in London
June 29, 2019
The New York Yankees took a 17-6 lead after five innings and held off a late rally as they defeated the Boston Red Sox 17-13 at London Stadium on Saturday.
The first regular-season MLB game played in Europe resembled a slow-pitch softball matchup as the two teams combined to score 30 or more runs for just the second time in their 109-year rivalry, per Katie Sharp of Talkin' Yanks. The Yankees beat the Red Sox 20-11 in 2009.
DJ LeMahieu and Luke Voit led the Yanks with four hits apiece in the opening game of the MLB London Series, with the former player leading New York with five RBI.
Aaron Hicks, Brett Gardner and Aaron Judge each hit homers for the Bronx Bombers, who have now smacked at least one in 30 consecutive games.
Michael Chavis led the Red Sox with a pair of three-run homers, and Jackie Bradley Jr. went 4-for-5 with a solo shot.
The two teams combined for 37 hits, and Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez and Red Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi were the only starters to not get one. New York and Boston also used eight pitchers apiece.
Neither starter lasted past the first as the Yankees' Masahiro Tanaka and Boston's Rick Porcello each allowed six earned runs before exiting.
Hicks smacked the first European MLB home run to give the Yanks a 6-0 edge:
Undeterred, the Red Sox only needed one inning to tie it with a six-run frame capped by Chavis' first homer:
The Yankees offense kept the scoring going, though, when Gardner delivered a Steven Wright pitch into the right field stands in the third:
That gave New York an 8-6 lead, but the advantage ballooned to 14-6 in the following inning after Judge went opposite field for his home run:
New York scored three more in the fifth for a 17-6 edge, but the Red Sox stormed back with seven runs courtesy of one in the sixth and six in the seventh. Bradley's solo shot pulled Boston within 17-7, and Chavis' second three-run homer proved to be the big hit in the six-run frame.
The Red Sox even put the tying runner at the plate with the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth, but Marco Hernandez grounded out to third.
The marathon eventually ended after a scoreless ninth. The game lasted four hours and 42 minutes, per Sharp, or three minutes shorter than the longest nine-inning MLB game of all time.
Despite the scoring, the game's highlight may have been a defensive play, as Boston reliever Ryan Brasier somehow snatched this Gio Urshela line drive screaming toward his head:
Unfortunately, both teams suffered injuries.
Voit left after a fifth-inning double with "tightness in core muscle below the belly button," per Yankees radio color commentator Suzyn Waldman (h/t ESPN's Marly Rivera).
Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts departed in the seventh after running to third with a left leg cramp, per Rivera.
The Yanks and Red Sox will return to London Stadium on Sunday for a 10:10 a.m. ET start before heading stateside to continue the rest of their schedule Tuesday. New York's first post-London game will be at the New York Mets, and Boston will visit the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals will play in London Stadium next year for two games on June 13 and 14.