Yankees Pound Boston 8-2 To Take Series at Fenway, Dodgers Edge Astros To Avoid Sweep

July 29, 2024 by Staff

The New York Yankees two of three in Boston over the weekend, completing the series win an 8-2 victory on Sunday. A three-run first inning left the Red Sox playing catch-up from the start, and after closing the gap to 4-2 in the 4th, the Bronx pitchers held any further rally at bay.

The two Boston runs came off back-to-back homers over the Green Monster in the home half of the 4th with Rob Refsnyder sending a 412-foot shot to left that cleared the stands, after which Connor Wong parked one among the fans at 378 feet. It looked like the Boston offense would gain even more momentum when Rafael Devers tripled, but Tyler O'Neill went down swinging, Romy Gonzalez grounded out to short and Ceddanne Rafaela struck out.

Boston had just 7 hits and committed 3 errors and left 6 on base. The Yanks collected their 8 runs on 10 hits and committed 1 error.

It was an outcome called by Austin Swaim as one of the 3 MLB best bets for Sunday at FanDuel.com.

The Red Sox are 5.5 games behind New York and lag first-place Baltimore by 6.5. The Yankees are a game out of first as they've gone 4-6 over the last 10 while the Orioles were 5-5. Boston is 3-7 over the same stretch.

New York has three games in Philadelphia starting today before returning the the comfortable confines of Yankee Stadium to host Toronto for three games from Friday to Sunday.

Boston has Seattle at home for 3 games starting today, then gets Thursday off before a 3-game stand at Texas.

Meanwhile, 1,850 miles away, Los Angeles got a much needed 6-2 win in Houston after dropping the first two games 5-0 and 7-6.

The Dodgers have produced only 29 runs in their last 7 games, or 4.14 per game. They allowed 30 in those same 7 contests, or 4.29, which should send up some alarms.

Last year, the world champion Texas Rangers surrendered 4.37 (ranked 14th), but scored 5.46 (ranked 3rd).

For this season, the Dodgers are ranked 4th in runs scored (4.93), behind only the Yankees, Diamondbacks and Orioles. They are 9th in runs allowed at 4.06. So over the last 7 games, run production is down and runs allowed are up.

LA still owns a 6.5-game lead in the NL West. over San Diego as the squad has matched the 7-3 mark of the Padres over the last ten contests. LA and San Diego will play a two-game set tomorrow and Wednesday. The Dodgers then go north to play Oakland on Friday, Saturday and Sunday while San Diego will host Colorado Friday through Sunday.

Houston is in a dead heat with Seattle in the American League West with Texas looking at a 4.5-game deficit.

In the American League Central, the top four teams - Cleveland, Minnesota, Kansas City and Detroit - have all gone 5-5 over the last ten, keeping the Guardians 4.5 games up on the Twins, 6.5 on the Royals and 10.5 on the Tigers.

Chicago just keeps drifting further into the abyss on its 14-game losing streak. It's the second 14-game skid this season for the 27-81 White Sox. For the record, Chicago is the only American League team to own two different 14-game losing streaks in the same season, and the White Sox join the National League's 1935 Boston Braves as the only other team to do it in the entire history of the Major Leagues.

Philadelphia maintains an 8.5-game lead over Atlanta in the National League East, despite dropping the series 2-1 at home to Cleveland. While the Phillies are hosting the Yankees for three games, the Braves are headed to Milwaukee after going 2-2 at the NY Mets. Atlanta then turns around and flies back to home to entertain Miami this weekend.

Milwaukee has a 6-game advantage on St. Louis in the National League Central with Pittsburgh lurking just a game behind the Cards. All three picked up wins on Sunday to avoid being swept. The Cards beat Washington at home, the Brewers defeated Miami at home, while the Bucs won at Arizona.