Vidal Nuno put together a great outing to shut out the Red Sox.
If you missed this game because you had exciting Friday night plans, you might be regretting that decision right about now. Not only did Vidal Nuno pitch his best game of the season, but the offense showed up and earned most of their runs through home runs, and the Red Sox failed to score.
After struggling mightily during his last two starts against Baltimore and Oakland, and all the talk about possibly skipping his start, Nuno actually looked great tonight. The last time he had an outing like this was against the Rays in April. Tonight he pitched 5.2 innings and only gave up two hits, a single to Jonny Gomes and a double to Brock Holt. He also had notched five strikeouts and only walked two batters. Couldn't really have asked for more from him.
The bullpen also put together a good night. Dellin Betances came on in relief in the sixth inning to get the last out, then worked a clean seventh inning, striking out two while giving up a walk and a ground-rule double. No harm done. Adam Warren pitched the eighth and struck out David Ortiz. Matt Thornton finished the game with a 1-2-3 inning, including a strikeout to Mike Napoli.
On the other side of things, the Yankees scored all the runs. Literally. They got on the board early in the game, after Mark Teixeira hit a sac fly to score Jeter, who had singled to get on base. Jeter also singled in the third inning, and although nothing came of it, it was nice to see the Captain with two hits tonight. In the fourth inning, Brian McCann lead off with a single the other way, which was followed by a long two-run home run off the bat of Kelly Johnson. Next up was Brett Gardner, who decided he wanted to get in on the home run action with a solo shot to right center field. The final runs came in the eighth, when Tex started the inning with a line drive to center. Brian McCann followed with a two-run bomb to right. Hopefully this is a sign of him heating up!
Other notable things: Ichiro Suzuki made a nice diving play in the second inning to rob Stephen Drew of a hit. Brock Holt also caught a long fly out off the bat of Brian Roberts that was very close to being a home run, and made a nice diving play late in the game to prevent Carlos Beltran from getting a hit.
Tomorrow is everyone's favorite day of the week: Tanaka Time. He'll take on Jon Lester at 7:15 pm EST.