Gray shelled early, Sale tosses gem in 11-0 massacre

In game two of this three-game set between the AL's top two teams, the Red Sox got to Sonny Gray early, and coasted to an easy victory behind an utterly dominant Chis Sale. The Boston bats were relentless all night, led by Rafael Devers and J.D. Martinez.  With the win, Boston recaptured sole possession of first place in the AL East and evened the season series with the Yankees and four games apiece. 

Photo Credit: Julie Jacobson/AP

This game was ugly right from the start when, after retiring the first two batters he faced, Sonny Gray then loaded the bases before Rafael Devers took him deep to left field for a grand slam. Gray allowed two more runs in the second and only record one out in the third before he was relieved by Adam Warren. 

On the other side of the ball, the Yankees batters had absolutely no answers for Chris Sale all night. The big lefty faced minimal trouble over seven strong innings of work, allowing just a single hit while striking out 11. 

The lone bright spot for the Yankees in this game was Warren, who entered in the top of the third with runners on the corners and only one out, but was able to induce a fly ball double play to shallow right-center, with Aaron Judge canning Xander Bogaerts at the plate.  Warren pitched through the top of the fifth without allowing a run. 

Giovanny Gallegos came on in what was essentially garbage time and issued three more runs to completely blow this game wide open. Jonathan Holder allowed a run in the eighth and Chasen Shreve allowed another in the ninth.

Winning Pitcher: Chris Sale (8-4, 2.41): 7.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 11 K 

Losing Pitcher: Sonny Gray (5-6, 5.44): 2.1 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 2 BB, 0 K, 1 HR 

What's next? 

The two teams will conclude this battle on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball tomorrow night. Probable starters are David Price for the Red Sox and Luis Severino for the Yankees.  First pitch is scheduled for 8:05pm. 

Game Notes:

• Jonathan Holder's earned run allowed in the top of the eighth ended his scoreless streak
• Rafael Devers finished 5-5 and missed his first career cycle by a triple
• Kyle Higashioka went 0-1 and is now 0-21 is his MLB career
• Aaron Hicks was hit by a pitch on his foot in the first but remained in the ballgame
• Brandon Drury, starting at first base tonight, went 0-3 with three strikeouts in his return the majors

Recap by: Andrew Natalizio
Follow @anatalizio0523 Follow @BronxBomberBall