Yankees and Red Sox Combine for 30 Runs and Six Homers in Wild First Game in London
Europe got its first taste of Major League Baseball on Saturday, and it couldn't have been any more wild.
The Yankees and Red Sox took their rivalry across the pond to play in London Stadium and combined to score 30 runs in the first day of the two game-series. New York won 17–13.
Both teams wasted no time and scored six runs each in the first inning, which lasted 58 minutes. Aaron Hicks crushed a two-run moonshot for the first MLB home run in Europe and put the Yankees up 6–0 in the top of the first inning. Michael Chavis responded for the Red Sox by sending a three-run homer 425 feet over the centerfield wall to tie the game 6–6 in the bottom half.
Saturday marks the first time in the rivalry that both teams have scored six runs each in the first inning of a game.
And the slugfest had only just begun.
Hitting by the Numbers:
• Both offenses came up big, and 11 different players tallied at least two hits. The Yankees had six players with multi-hit games, the Red Sox had five.
• DJ LeMahieu, Luke Voit and Jackie Bradley Jr. each recorded four hits.
• Voit went 4-for-4 and was the only starter for either team not to make an out. He left the game in the fifth inning with an abdominal injury.
• The Red Sox and Yankees combined to hit six home runs, three apiece. The feat didn't look too hard for them, considering London Stadium has the shortest distance to the centerfield wall in MLB this season at 385 feet.
• The Yankees' 17 runs are the most they've scored in a game against the Red Sox in almost a decade. The Bronx Bombers tallied 20 runs against Boston on August 21, 2009.
Pitchers Duel?
Both teams used eight pitchers apiece, allowing 30 runs on 37 hits. Neither team's starting pitcher could make it through the first inning: Yankees' starter Masahiro Tanaka lasted 2/3 of an inning, while Boston pulled Rick Porcello with just one out in the first. The two combined for a 108 ERA in the game (12 total runs across an inning of work).
New York reliever Tommy Kahnle didn't even register an ERA for Saturday's game because he was lifted before he could record an out. His final line: 0 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 2 BB. Red Sox righthander Mike Shawaryn allowed the most runs in the game, eight earned across 1 1/3 innings.
Remarkably, despite all the poor pitching, both teams played errorless defense.
Sights and Sounds:
This game didn't just deliver big moments during the game. Both clubhouses got the royal treatment when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle visited them before the first pitch. Each club presented the Royal Couple with gifts, including a jersey and onsie for baby Archie.
The crowd of 59,659 filled the stadium. With them came a lot of pomp and circumstance and some nice drinks.
Of course it wouldn't be baseball without an iconic mascot race. Winston Churchill, Henry VIII, Freddie Mercury and the Loch Ness Monster battled around the warning track, but it wasn't a particularly tight race. Mercury won to ensure he's still the champion of the world.
The Red Sox and Yankees will finish the series on Sunday, with first pitch scheduled for 10:10 a.m. ET.
