NEW YORK – Jake Bennett bought the Red Sox more time to snap out of their recent offensive rut by unleashing a masterful performance in Game 1 of a day-night doubleheader at Yankee Stadium on Saturday.
The rookie lefty regained the groove he had during a sparkling nine-start run from June 17-Aug. 2 and made some of his more recent struggles look like a distant memory, firing six scoreless innings in which he allowed three hits while walking none and striking out seven in Boston’s 6-0 victory.
Bennett flooded the zone, throwing 59 of his 83 pitches for strikes. He generated 14 whiffs in 46 swings by the Yankees. It was Bennett’s second dominant effort against the Bronx Bombers this season, as he allowed three hits and one run over 6 1/3 innings on June 27.
This was an important win for the Red Sox, who can take the season series from the Yankees (and a tiebreaker for home-field advantage in a potential American League Wild Card Series rematch of last year) by taking one of the final two games of this four-game set between the rivals.
The Sox had been shut out in their previous two games, including a tough 1-0 defeat on Friday night in the Bronx.
Wilyer Abreu got them in the scoring column with one sweet swing with two outs in the first, belting a solo shot to right that gave him career highs in homers (23) and RBIs (70).
That turned out to be all Bennett needed as he cruised for most of the afternoon.
There was one potential rough spot in the fourth when, after an error by third baseman Caleb Durbin and a passed ball by Adley Rutschman, Heliot Ramos hit a fly ball to center that Ceddanne Rafaela completely misjudged.
When Rafaela finally caught up to the fly that was ruled a double, he fired to cutoff man Nick Sogard, who threw a bullet to the plate, where Rutschman tagged out Amed Rosario.
The Red Sox added an insurance run on some sloppiness by the Yankees in the fifth. On a potential lineout double play off the bat of Andruw Monasterio, Rosario’s throw to first was wide. Instead of getting doubled off first, Rutschman advanced to second on the error and eventually scored on a passed ball by Yankees catcher Ali Sánchez.
In the top of the ninth, the Boston bats finally broke out with a four-run rally that included key hits by Monasterio (two-run single), Sogard (RBI double) and Rafaela (RBI single).
The most important part of that insurance rally is that it enabled interim manager Chad Tracy to rest closer Aroldis Chapman for the Game 2 nightcap.