A Friday night showdown awaits between the Yankees and Red Sox at Fenway Park in the second game of a four-game set. Let’s analyze this ancient American League rivalry and keep cashing our MLB picks!
New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox
Friday, July 23, 2021 – 7:10 PM ET at Fenway Park
The Yankees are stalled in third place in the AL East in what was supposed to be a season in which a division title was theirs to lose. Well, it looks like they are losing it and the Red Sox are at least part of the reason why. Over their 10 meetings thus far this season the Red Sox have won eight, and last night was no different.
With two outs in the ninth inning, Kiké Hernández raked a two-run double to tie the game, and the Red Sox took advantage of four wild pitches by Brooks Kriske in the 10th inning to beat the Yankees 5-4 on a misty Thursday night at Fenway Park.
“That’s why you play until the last out is made,” Hernández said. “Pitchers did a good job of keeping us in the game.”
It was a game that the Bombers should have won after putting two on the board in the top of the eighth inning and breaking a 1-1 tie before the Sox rallied for a pair of their own in the ninth. In the 10th inning, Brett Gardner hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Tyler Wade but Kriske imploded in a save situation and made dubious MLB history when he became the first player ever to toss four wild pitches in a single extra inning.
Pitching Matchup
New York will send their ace, Gerrit Cole (10-4, 2.63 ERA, .94 WHIP) to the hill after pitching six innings of one-run, five-hit baseball against these very same Red Sox last week in what resulted in a 3-1 victory in the Bronx. Cole struck out 11 batters in that game and it was hot off the heels of another gem when he pitched a full nine innings and blanked the Astros in a 1-0 pitcher’s duel. Cole allowed only three hits in that contest in Houston and struck out a dozen.
Boston will counter with Eduardo Rodriguez (7-5, 5.19 ERA, 1.33 WHIP) who has had a mercurial season, to say the least, but has pitched better as the season has worn on. The 28-year-old southpaw last took the mound a week ago when he stymied the Yankees over five-plus innings, limiting the Pinstripers to just two hits and no runs in a 4-0 Boston victory.
Wanna Make a Bet?
Here we have two pitchers squaring off, both having won their last outing against the other’s side in dominating fashion. Gerrit Cole has been nothing short of phenomenal recently and whatever ailed him earlier in the season appears to be a distant memory. I should point out that the Sox torched Cole for six runs on eight hits over five innings in a 9-2 Boston win back on June 27th but that seems like a long time ago after the way the 30-year-old righty has been pitching recently.
The Yankees have not been swinging the bat well recently, hitting only .211 and averaging four runs per game over their last 10 games but registering a 6-4 mark nonetheless. On the flip side, the Red Sox have gone 5-5 over their last 10 but batted .252 and scored an average of 5.2 runs per game over that stretch.
The MLB odds at all of the best online sportsbooks have this contest as pretty much a flip of the coin. And although the Yankees have a substantial injury list, it is impossible to overlook getting one of the best in the business, Gerrit Cole, at a pick’em. And while E-Rod has pitched well in two of his last three performances, he is afar more likely to get tagged than Cole, who has struck out a whopping 23 batters over his last two games. Let’s not overthink it, let’s just bet it. Grab the Bombers and Gerrit Cole at a price too tempting to resist.
Free MLB Pick: Yankees -110 at SugarHouse
