Yankees' Josh Donaldson Sinks Sox With Walk-Off on Opening Day
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NEW YORK — The Red Sox and Yankees renewed their timeless rivalry on Friday for an Opening Day clash in the Bronx and it was an instant classic.
Battling back and forth into extra innings, New York had an opportunity to send a sellout crowd home happy in the bottom of the 11th, needing just one run to score. That's when New York's newcomers stepped up on the biggest stage.
With speedy shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa at second base as New York's automatic runner, third baseman Josh Donaldson drove in the winning run on a walk-off single off right-hander Kutter Crawford, clinching a 6-5 win.
Donaldson finished his Yankees debut 2-for-6 out of the leadoff spot while Kiner-Falefa scampered home to score his first run in a Yankees uniform. Both were acquired in last month's blockbuster trade with the Twins, sending catcher Gary Sánchez and infielder Gio Urshela to Minnesota.
Fifteen different pitchers took the mound on Friday as both starters—Gerrit Cole and Nathan Eovaldi—lasted five-or-fewer innings. In Cole's case, after an abbreviated spring training, the ace was on the bump for just four innings pitched, tossing 68 total pitches in the win.
Cole's first frame was eerily similar to the first inning of his inopportune clunker against Boston in the Wild Card Game last fall. Except this time, rather than recording a few outs before serving up a two-run home run, Cole was rocked right away.
Moments after a four-pitch walk to start the game, Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers climbed the ladder and pounded a high fastball into the second deck in right, giving Boston an immediate 2-0 lead.
After allowing two more hits in a row, still with nobody out, Cole began hearing boos at Yankee Stadium.
From that point, however, the ace of the staff buckled down and found another groove. Cole permitted just one additional run to score, facing one batter over the minimum for the next four frames.
Meanwhile, New York's offense promptly battled back, riding the home run ball to tie the game at three runs apiece. Both first baseman Anthony Rizzo (a two-run jack in the first) and designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton (a solo laser over the short porch in the fourth) found souvenir city early on.
With Cole out of the game, the Red Sox jumped in front a few innings later on an RBI single off the bat of left fielder Alex Verdugo, plating Xander Bogaerts. Boston didn't hit the ball particularly hard in that inning, off right-hander Clay Holmes, but found holes in New York's infield, pushing the go-ahead run across.
New York didn't tie things up again until the eighth when DJ LeMahieu skied a solo homer to the opposite field off Red Sox reliever Garrett Whitlock. Connecting on a two-strike heater at the top of the zone, LeMahieu flashed some emotion as he rounded the bases.
Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman was lights-out in the top of the ninth, striking out two of the three batters he faced. While New York threatened with two runners on base in the bottom half of the ninth, Stanton struck out swinging with two out and two men on to send the game to extras.
In the top of the 10th, with Michael King on the mound for New York, Bogaerts brought the go-ahead run home on a single to shallow left field. Jonathan Arauz, who scored on the play, began the inning on second base as Boston's automatic runner, a rule that was brought back for extra innings again this season.
New York's automatic runner (Marwin Gonzalez, who ran for Stanton) came across to score in the bottom of the 10th on a pinch-hit sacrifice fly from second baseman Gleyber Torres. Shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa was unable to be the hero, though, stranding the game-winning run on second to send this ballgame to the 11th.
King pitched a scoreless inning in the top of the 11th, setting the Yankees up to win the game in the bottom of the frame. Donaldson wasted no time, slapping the third pitch he saw right back up the box. Kiner-Falefa scored easily from second.
MORE:
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- Why the Yankees Believe They Will Win the World Series This Year
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