The Boston Red Sox defeated the New York Yankees at Fenway in the wild card round, 6-2. When the ball sailed over the center-field fence, landing in the stands in a crowd of happy Red Sox fans, the momentum was set for the rest of the game. The star of the game for Boston was Xander Bogaerts, who turned to the dugout to flex moments after sending a rocket to the outfield.
Nothing but perfect-perfect from Xander Bogaerts for the 1st postseason homerun @MLBTheShow pic.twitter.com/KtFADuVodz
— Scuffy (@ScuffyMcGeeTV) October 6, 2021
This undeniably is the matchup the Yankees wanted after going on a scorching hot run to make the playoffs. Unfortunately, for the Yankees, the Red Sox were well prepared and more than ready for them. Yankees ace Gerrit Cole struggled to pitch all night as it seemed the Red Sox continued to find success. Cole and Nathan Eovaldi combined for a shutout through the sixth inning in the AL wild-card game, contributing to the Boston Red Sox’s victory on Tuesday night.
“The home run by Bogaerts in the first inning was amazing. The crowd went crazy, and you draw energy from that,” Schwarber expressed. “You live for that kind of support, and Red Sox fans delivered tonight. It was exactly what we needed, and words can’t describe how much the crowd means to us.”
Bogaerts struck out Aaron Judge in the sixth as Boston advanced and will take on the Tampa Rays in a best of five AL Division round playoff series. Game one will take place in Florida this Thursday night.
“Now we move on to the next one, and we need to be prepared to face a formidable baseball team,” stated Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “They were widely regarded as the top team in the league at the start of the season. It’s a significant challenge for us, but we’re fully prepared.”
