New York Yankees defeat the Red Sox for eighth straight win and take over first place

The New York Yankees defeated the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday night.  The game took place at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York and the final score was 9-6.  Masahiro Tanaka started for the Yankees and he struggled but battled through.  Brett Gardner and Aaron Judge each had three hits to lead the offense. 

Tanaka pitched 5 1/3 innings giving up eight hits and four runs with two walks and three strikeouts.  Chad Green pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up two hits and two runs with a walk and two strikeouts, Chasen Shreve pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit and a walk with a strikeout and Jonathan Holder picked up his first win of the season pitching 2/3 of an inning with a walk and a strikeout.  Aroldis Chapman saved his ninth game of the season pitching an inning and giving up a hit with three strikeouts. 

Rick Porcello pitched 5 1/3 innings giving up eight hits and five runs with three walks and three strikeouts.  Brian Johnson pitched a perfect inning, Carson Smith pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit and he struck out one and Matt Barnes took his first loss of the season pitching 1/3 of an inning and giving up a hit and two runs with a walk.  Craig Kimbrel blew his second save of the season pitching 2/3 of an inning giving up two hits and two runs with two strikeouts. 

Gardner had three hits and two RBI, Judge had three hits, three RBI and drew a walk and Didi Gregorius drew a walk.  Giancarlo Stanton had a hit and two RBI, Gary Sanchez had two hits and an RBI and Aaron Hicks had an RBI and drew a walk.  Neil Walker had a hit, Miguel Andujar had a hit and Gleyber Torres had a hit and drew a walk.  Gardner hit two doubles, Stanton and Walker hit a double.  Gardner hit a triple and Judge hit a homerun.  The Yankees were 5-10 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base.  Hicks had a stolen base. 

Mookie Betts drew a walk, Andrew Benintendi had a hit, an RBI and drew two walks and Hanley Ramirez had a hit and two RBI.  J.D. Martinez had two hits and drew a walk, Xander Bogaerts had three hits and Mitch Moreland had a hit, two RBI and drew a walk.  Eduardo Nunez had a hit and an RBI, Rafael Devers had two hits and Sandy Leon had a hit.  Bogaerts and Nunez each hit a double.  Moreland, Benintendi and Ramirez each hit a homerun.  The Red Sox were 0-6 with runners in scoring position and left nine men on base.  Porcello committed an error. 

In the first Judge hit an RBI single to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead.  In the second Moreland hit a two-run homerun to give the Red Sox a 2-1 lead.  In the third Stanton hit a two-run double and Hicks hit a sac fly to give the Yankees back the lead at 4-2.  In the fifth Benintendi hit a solo homerun to cut the lead to 4-3.  Sanchez hit a sac fly in the bottom of the fifth to push the lead to 5-3.  In the sixth Nunez hit a sac fly to cut the lead to 5-4.  In the seventh Ramirez hit a two-run homerun to give the Red Sox the lead at 6-5.  In the eighth Gardner hit a two-run triple giving the Yankees a 7-6 lead and Judge hit a two-run homerun to make it 9-6 which would be the final score. 

The Yankees have won the first two of three in this series.  The Yankees have won eight in a row overall and 17 of 18.  They have also won 11 straight home games.  They will look for the sweep on Thursday night.