BOSTON — After five terrific innings out of Masahiro Tanaka, Dellin Betances continued his October resurgence with a perfect sixth inning.
The scoreless inning came with the Yankees hanging on to a two-run lead, their offense stalled and 12 outs away from evening the ALDS against the Red Sox.
“Just be aggressive,” Betances said of his mindset entering the inning. “You don’t want to walk those guys because they can rally. Make them put the ball in play.”
Betances opened by getting Andrew Benintendi to ground to first. Then J.D. Martinez grounded to second and Xander Bogaerts — who homered to center for the Red Sox’s lone run off Tanaka — grounded to third to end the inning and the Yankees were on their way to a 6-2 victory.
By the time Betances went to the mound again, Gary Sanchez had hit a three-run homer, so the right-hander faced much less pressure in the seventh, although he allowed a run.
It was another encouraging sign from the right-hander, who pitched himself out of appearing in critical situations late last season and hardly pitched any meaningful innings in the postseason.
Betances referred to himself in last season’s playoffs as a “cheerleader” prior to this series, but the Yankees are counting on much more from him this time around.
In the wild-card win over the A’s, Betances entered with a two-run lead when Luis Severino left with two on and no one out in the fifth.
Betances retired all six batters he faced last Wednesday in The Bronx.
He wasn’t as good on Saturday, but he delivered three significant outs when the game was still tight.
Boston scored a run off him in the seventh after a leadoff single by Mitch Moreland and a one-out double by Ian Kinsler that scored Moreland.
Zach Britton, who gave up a pair of runs in the eighth inning of the blowout win over the A’s, pitched his second straight shutout inning in this series with a scoreless eighth.
And although Aroldis Chapman still hasn’t faced a save situation this postseason, he felt the wrath of the Fenway faithful in the bottom of the ninth.
Chapman entered with a four-run lead to face Steve Pearce and with another full house in Boston, the left-hander was quickly greeted by a “Chapman” chant from the crowd.
It only grew louder when he walked Pearce to start the inning, but Chapman — who has pitched very well since returning from a DL stint caused by left knee tendinitis — got Eduardo Nunez looking at a 99-mph fastball on the outside corner.
He finished the scoreless frame with an Ian Kinsler double play to seal the Yankees’ win that tied the series at 1-1.
Credit: NY Post</>
via USAHint.com
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