The Boston Red Sox Friday, September 21, 2018

Transcription

1 * The Boston Globe The Boston Red Sox Friday, September 21, 2018 This was goal No. 1: Red Sox clinch third straight AL East title Peter Abraham NEW YORK The best player on the best team had his best game of the season on Thursday night and the Red Sox clinched the American League East. Mookie Betts had a game befitting a Most Valuable Player, driving in five runs as the Sox came back to beat the Yankees, 11-6, and wrap up the division. Betts was 4 for 5 with two doubles, a home run, and three runs scored. His skyscraper three-run homer off Aroldis Chapman in the eighth inning was the clinching shot in the clincher. He showed up when we needed him and he s been there all year, teammate Andrew Benintendi said. Mookie sets the table and he definitely did that tonight. Steven Wright pitched three scoreless innings for the victory, settling down what was turning into a wild game long enough for his teammates to get to the Yankees bullpen. The Sox will open the postseason at Fenway Park on Oct. 5, likely against the winner of the wild-card game on Oct. 3. When Craig Kimbrel recorded the final out, a strikeout of Giancarlo Stanton, he embraced catcher Sandy Leon. Their teammates soon joined them on the mound, but there was no raucous celebration. Even in the clubhouse, the requisite spraying of champagne ended fairly quickly. These Sox have much bigger goals in mind. There s a lot more to be accomplished, Wright said. This was a huge step in the right direction. But it s just a start. When we set off in spring training this was goal No. 1. It s the third division title in a row for the Sox, a first in franchise history. Their 104 victories are one shy of matching the team record set in The Sox took over first place in the division on July 2 and ran away from the rival Yankees. They have 290 victories over the last three seasons. It has been a masterpiece season for Alex Cora, the first rookie manager to win 104 games since Ralph Houk finished with Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, and the 1961 Yankees. With nine games remaining, Cora could track that record down. I came here with an idea. We did it as a staff, said Cora, who was a runner-up to manage several teams before the Sox hired him. I thank ownership for giving me a shot, man. I never thought it was going to happen at one point. That s a great group. Now we have a shot; we have a shot to win 11 games in October.

2 The first inning took 39 minutes as 60 pitches were thrown. The Red Sox emerged from the morass with a 1-0 lead as Betts lined a double off the fence in left field and scored on a single by J.D. Martinez. The lead grew to 3-0 in the second inning on a two-run, two-out single by Betts. Red Sox starter Eduardo Rodriguez started to unravel in the second inning when he walked Gary Sanchez and Luke Voit hit his third home run of the series, a shot to center field. The Sox got a run back in the third when Brock Holt homered deep into the second deck in right field. Masahiro Tanaka had allowed three runs over 21 innings in three prior starts this month. The Sox matched that after three innings. Rodriguez left two runners stranded in the third inning then retired the first two batters of the fourth. The lefthander then walked Andrew McCutchen, Aaron Judge, and Aaron Hicks to load the bases. Judge, who was 0 for 9 in his career against Rodriguez, fell behind, 0 and 2, and worked a 10-pitch walk, fouling off four pitches before Rodriguez missed low with a 3-and-2 fastball. With Rodriguez at 100 pitches, Cora went to Heath Hembree. Hembree has been adept at stranding inherited runners for much of the season. This time he hung a slider that Stanton lined into the right-field stands for his 35th home run. Rodriguez walked seven in 3⅔ innings and four scored. The last Red Sox pitcher with that many or more walks in as few innings was Clay Buchholz, who walked eight in three innings against Atlanta on May 26, The Sox came from 6-0 down to win that game. Trailing, 6-4, the Sox rallied against the Yankees. Betts doubled again in the fifth, moved to third when Benintendi singled, and scored when Martinez grounded into a double play. The Sox tied it when Jackie Bradley Jr. led off the seventh inning with a home run to right field against Chad Green. After Christian Vazquez singled, the Yankees turned to Dellin Betances. He struck out Betts, but Benintendi doubled to send Vazquez to third. Martinez was walked intentionally to load the bases for Xander Bogaerts. His sacrifice fly to center field scored pinch runner Tzu-Wei Lin. A second run scored when Hicks s throw to third base bounced into the stands. They don t stop playing, Cora said of his team. As the Sox were coming back, Wright held down the Yankees. He retired nine of the 10 batters he faced and threw 28 of 38 pitches for strikes. The knuckleballer has pitched in relief seven times since coming off the disabled list on Sept. 1 and thrown 10 scoreless innings. As the postseason approaches, he is stepping forward as a reliable bullpen option. When Betts slugged his home run off Chapman, the game was secure. I ve had some good games. I just do what I can to help the team win, Betts said. But there was joy in this moment. Everyone is hungry : Make no mistake, these Red Sox want more

3 Tara Sullivan NEW YORK They could finally exhale in the top of the eighth, release any remaining tension as Mookie Betts swung that sweet MVP bat through Aroldis Chapman s hanging slider Thursday night. The ball landed in the left-field seats, Betts followed Rafael Devers and Jackie Bradley Jr. around the bases, a three-run homer to erase the memory of two long, frustrating nights at Yankee Stadium. Erased and replaced by the glee of a division-clinching win, an 11-6 victory that earned the Red Sox their third consecutive AL East crown, won at the expense of their heated rival and done at the behest of their heavy-hitting bats. But make no mistake: These Red Sox want more. They want October. They want a title, evident in the subdued celebration that followed Giancarlo Stanton s final strikeout. It s like a step, slugger J.D. Martinez was saying afterward, undaunted by the river of Chandon California Brut running under his feet, unfazed by the soaking wet cap and champagne-soaked goggles upon his head. It s one of those things where you have to celebrate because this was hard to do. It s not easy. You want to celebrate and enjoy it, but we re not done. So there was closer Craig Kimbrel pounding a fist into his glove at the final out, walking from the mound and into a slow-growing swarm of teammates, those streaming in from their field positions, from the dugout, and eventually, jogging across the outfield from the bullpen too, a bevy of backslaps and high-fives befitting a milestone, but absent any craziness. For a lot of guys in there, this is their third straight title and they know there are bigger things, first-year manager Alex Cora said in the small visiting manager s office across the hall from the tarp-encased visiting locker room. As part of these celebrations as a player (for the Red Sox among his many teams), as a coach (with last year s World Series champion Astros) and now as a manager, he was content to play the part of satisfied observer, to let his players revel while he watched from afar. This is what he came here to help them do, this is what Red Sox management believed he could do when they hired him. Obviously, it s a great accomplishment, but where we play, that s not enough, he said. They want a World Series title. We ve got a chance. It s part of what we get to do this is step two. Clinching a playoff spot, now the division. It s like when I talked about the World Cup. We ve got five penalty kicks now. Can Betts take them all? Just as he has been all season, Mookie was the night s hitting hero, his four-hit, five-rbi night offsetting the go-ahead grand slam Stanton had hit in the fourth, augmenting the three runs the Red Sox answered with in the seventh, the first on Jackie Bradley Jr. s solo homer and the additional two when a bad throw by Aaron Hicks on a sacrifice fly sailed into the stands along the third base line. It was that kind of long, wild night in the Bronx. A full 39 minutes had passed by the time the first inning ended, a combined 106 pitches thrown by the end of the second. If this was a preview of the American League Division Series, baseball fans better settle in. The Yankees and Red Sox do not play quick games. But they do play meaningful ones. And as this heady 2018 Red Sox joyride spins its way toward the regular season conclusion, no victory will prove more meaningful for the Sox, a third-time s-the-charm breakthrough that sent champagne corks popping and the Bud Light beer cans crushing into the New York night.

4 Delayed and denied for two straight days by a healthy, resurgent Yankees lineup, the Red Sox had no desire to pack up their celebration and take it with them to Cleveland, intent instead on surviving this wild night past a finish line that has been frustratingly difficult to cross. They did it with a few more of the clutch hits that have been the hallmark of this season, along with a few clutch innings of relief that have been so much harder to come by. If single-game MVP honors went to Steven Wright for his three scoreless innings of relief that cleaned up the mess created by starter Eduardo Rodriguez and then Heath Hembree (who gave up the Stanton slam), the return of the big swing (Brock Holt also homered) was another welcome antidote to the failings of Tuesday and Wednesday night. So here they were Thursday, under a cool September sky that offered just enough of a taste of fall to stir those dreams of a long October, avoiding a sweep at the hands of their heated, dreaded rival and wrapping up the next item on a checklist that is supposed to finish with a World Series title. It won t be easy. Fellow American League powerhouse Houston aside, what the Yankees flashed across these three days was a neon sign they are rounding back into shape. First of all congrats to the Red Sox, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. It was a long, tough slug-itout game and they came up with more offensive plays than we did tonight. It would have been nice to finish off the start of a great series, but credit to them. They took another step. We just wanted to get it out of the way, get these next nine games done, Martinez said. I love our team, the way we play the game. Everyone is hungry. Of course we re celebrating, we re really happy. Satisfied, but we know there s more. Now it s the playoffs and trying to take this team as far as we can. The majors only knuckleballer is the rock of the Red Sox shaky bullpen Nick Cafardo NEW YORK I don t know if it s prudent or practical to use Steven Wright late in a game or with runners on base, but I do know this he has been a game-changer for the Red Sox. As the Sox clinched the division title with an 11-6 win over the Yankees Thursday night, Wright pitched three innings of shutout ball and held the Yankees in check after they d taken a 6-4 lead off Heath Hembree following Giancarlo Stanton s grand slam. If it wasn t for Wright, the Sox might have been swept because the Yankees might have scored all night. Instead, he stopped the Yankees momentum with his tricky knuckleball. Wright has been the rock of the Red Sox shaky bullpen. He has been the sure thing for quite a while now. If the Sox could bridge their starters with Wright and then Craig Kimbrel, that would be the dream scenario. But the postseason isn t always a dream and it can be a nightmare if the bullpen isn t right. At least the Red Sox finally got it over with. They won t have to lug those dozens of cases of champagne to Cleveland after all. Wright hasn t had the smoothest of seasons. He had a version of the Dustin Pedroia knee surgery, in which artificial cartilage was inserted in his left knee in May of It s been a long journey back. Even though he s a knuckleballer, a bad knee is hard for any pitcher because he still has to push off and land. Wright was on and off the disabled list. At one point he had to have a platelet injection to the knee. The knee has been sore at times and when it gets really bad, Wright has to shut it down. On Thursday night, Cora decided to push him a little bit. He had him go three innings rather than the usual one. In five of his previous six appearances, Wright had gone just one inning and once he went two.

5 I always have the opportunity to go one or two [innings], but after the second inning they asked me how I felt, Wright said. I said I felt fine and they told me to keep going. I didn t know if I could or couldn t because I hadn t done it, but I did it and I felt good. Cora wanted to see how Wright reacted and how he recuperates after the outing. If all is well, it creates a huge shot in the arm for this team. If Wright can be used for multiple innings in the playoffs, it eliminates the need to reduce the number of pitchers who have struggled. Might as well just go with the guys who can do the job. If a starter can go six or seven innings and Wright two and then bring in Kimbrel, that s the goal. Cora has even suggested that between now and the end of the year he s going to audition Kimbrel to see if he can bring him on in the eighth and have him get four or five outs. The middle man or the setup man is eliminated and team goes right from the 77-mile-per-hour knuckler to the 97-m.p.h. fastball that Kimbrel throws. So in addition to clinching, the Red Sox experimented and got a good result with Wright. There are no other knuckleballers in the majors, so it s hard for the opposition to prepare for Wright. They can watch all the video, pore through all the scouting reports and none of it is worth a damn. The batter just has to step to the plate and hope the pitch stays still long enough so he can square it and if he can t he ll look foolish. Opponents will have to hope that Wright just doesn t have it that night, hope the ball stays over the plate and that they can time it right. Otherwise, as former Sox manager Joe Morgan would often say, you won t be able to hit it with 40 bats. Wright s confidence is rising. He may have been a bit tentative early in the season when he was trying to figure out if the knee would hold. It took a long time for the strength to come and for the weakness to go. It s been on a day-to-day basis, Wright said. We do testing after every time I pitch and see how I feel. Tomorrow I ll be down and just try to recover. It s a day by day process. It s been good. It [knee] feels weird sometimes. It s hard to explain. It never hurts but somedays it feels stiffer than others. If Wright did not have the surgery, his career would have been over. So there were no other choices. He said he had to literally learn to walk again. And he had to take it from there little by little. At one point he thought he had made it all the way back, but it was a false sense of security. There were a few other setbacks before he could see that he was over the hump for good. He was on the DL June 22 until Sept. 3 and really, not many people thought he d make it back. Prior to that he had to serve a 15-game suspension for violating Major League Baseball s domestic violence policy. Wright was charged with domestic assault and preventing a 911 call at his home in Tennessee after an incident involving his wife in December. Wright s case was retired by prosecutors in Franklin, Tenn., on Dec. 21 and will be dismissed if Wright completes an anger management course, refrains from violent contact with his wife, and incurs no new criminal charges for a year. Even now Wright probably looks at the knee and wonders, but the more he gets out there and doesn t experience a setback the likely it is he s going to make it. Wright is 34 years old, but because he throws the pitch he does, he could pitch another 10 years if he wants as long as the knee holds up and he s still effective. That s the beauty of the knuckleball. He s surprised that so few are following in his footsteps. He thinks there are two or three other knuckleballers in professional baseball, in the minors, but he seems to have exclusive rights in the majors. I don t think anyone is a secret weapon anymore, Wright said. Just trying to keep them off balance. I m not the exception, except I m doing it with one pitch. The future for the 2016 All-Star could be as a starter or maybe he stays as a reliever. Right now, he s a game-changer, a role the Sox hope extends into the postseason.

6 Hearing WFAN s John Sterling home run call on WEEI was a weird juxtaposition Chad Finn For years, it seemed possible that someday Red Sox fans would hear a giddy announcer call a Giancarlo Stanton home run from the Boston radio booth. After all, in the eight years he spent walloping homers for the usually hapless Florida/Miami Marlins, Stanton s name often came up in Red Sox trade rumors. Stanton, who signed a 13-year, $325 million contract extension in December 2014 that practically priced him out of Miami before the ink was dry, never got to call Fenway home. Instead, Marlins CEO and part owner Derek Jeter traded/salary dumped the 2017 National League Most Valuable Player to the Yankees this past offseason for Starlin Castro and what amounted to a couple of gift baskets. Once coveted, Stanton was now a Red Sox competitor. And yet due to a gimmick in the Red Sox and Yankees broadcast booths Thursday night, there was a joyous call on the Boston airwaves when Stanton hit a fourth-inning grand slam. During the fourth inning Thursday night, WEEI s Joe Castiglione and WFAN s John Sterling swapped places for what the stations called a Rivalry in the Booth event. Castiglione joined Suzyn Waldman on the Yankees broadcast, while Sterling teamed up with Tim Neverett in the WEEI booth. The inning was more satisfying for the Yankees no matter which station you were listening to. Hearing Sterling, known for his distinctively hokey home run calls, joyously announce Stanton s slam to a New England audience was one weird juxtaposition. For the record, here s how he called it: Giancarlo, Non si può stoparlo! he hollered, using an Italian phrase that has become familiar to Yankee fans given that it was Stanton s 35th homer. He hits a home run a line drive in the right field seats. A grand slam! Stanton s slam gave the Yankees a 6-4 lead. But it was temporary the Red Sox rallied for an 11-6 victory to clinch the American League East title. Too bad Boston didn t get to hear Sterling call the ninth inning, too. Sandy Leon puts 0-for-30 slump behind him Peter Abraham NEW YORK When Sandy Leon slapped an RBI single to right field in the fifth inning on Wednesday night, he ran to first base with no outward display of emotion. We were losing the game. It would not have been right, Leon said. Still, Leon had earned the right to at least pump his fist. The single broke an 0-for-30 streak for the Red Sox catcher. It also was his first RBI since Aug. 14.

7 It was the toughest time of my career at the plate. I was working and trying to make adjustments, Leon said before the Sox played the Yankees on Thursday night. All you can do is keep working. Leon had his OPS up to.726 early in July. But it has plunged since, falling to.527. My job is to catch and when I hit, I hit, Leon said. My team was winning and we were in first place. That s what mattered. I controlled what I could control. It made it better that we were in first. Players in a slump will often try a new bat, new spikes or a change in their pregame routine. But Leon did not resort to anything like that. I don t believe in luck. I believe in God, Leon said. I didn t change anything. I worked with the coaches. I feel like results come if you work hard. You can t go home and think about it. I have a good family and they support me. My wife and my mom and dad, they were amazing. They were always positive. Until finding a place with the Sox in 2015, Leon was a fringe big leaguer. The 29-year-old from Venezuela has learned to handle the ups and downs of the game. His faith helps. You play 100 percent and see what happens, he said. I have a beautiful family, a beautiful son, everybody is healthy. I am healthy. That is what is No. 1. Baseball is No. 2. As a catcher, Leon sees his job as being there for his teammates. If my team is in first place, everything else doesn t matter. I know I have to hit, every baseball player understands that. But I am working hard. It s difficult to determine to what degree a particular catcher affects a pitching staff. But Sox pitchers have a 3.33 earned run average with Leon behind the plate. It s 4.00 with other catchers. He takes a lot of pride with what he does calling the game, blocking balls and winning ballgames, manager Alex Cora said. That never changed. We re proud of him. Nunez will rest Eduardo Nunez is not expected to play again until Monday at the earliest. He left Wednesday s game in the ninth inning with a sore right knee and hamstring. Nunez has dealt with knee issues all season. The injury goes back to last Sept. 9 when his knee collapsed. Nunez returned to play on Sept. 25 and reaggravated the injury. Nunez came back for Game 1 of the Division Series and his knee gave out again in his first at-bat. The Sox then replaced him on the roster. I m going to try and stay away from him. Hopefully he ll be back for the Baltimore series, Cora said. He doesn t need too many at-bats to keep his swing going. It s been very simple for the last month and a half. We ll make sure he gets at-bats before [the postseason] starts and he ll be ready. Barnes returns Matt Barnes, who has not pitched since Sept. 3 because of inflammation in his left hip, has been cleared to play. Cora said he would ideally be used in low-leverage situations first. Mookie Betts was in the lineup as the designated hitter for the second consecutive game. He has not played the outfield since Sunday when he felt soreness on his left side after making a throw. Cora said Betts would return to the outfield in Cleveland this weekend.

8 Mitch Moreland was out of the lineup as Blake Swihart started at first base. Moreland was 4 of 28 with 11 strikeouts in his previous nine games. Health-wise, he s good. He s struggling right now. You see it [mechanically], Cora said. He s very pullhappy. He s swinging and missing a lot. Cora feels a few days off could help. Moreland has hit.179 since playing in the All-Star Game. Catching on Sam Travis played the outfield in a major league game for only the third time on Wednesday night. But he made one of the best catches of the season. Travis ran full tilt into the wall in left field after catching a line drive off the bat of Miguel Andujar in the seventh inning. Statcast measured the odds of catching the ball at only 15 percent. Travis laughed when he heard that. I 100 percent caught it, he said. Travis was dizzy after the play and came out of the game at the end of the inning. Tests for a concussion were negative. Surgery for Maddox Righthanded reliever Austin Maddox, who was on the postseason roster a year ago, underwent rotator cuff surgery on Wednesday in Los Angeles and will miss the 2019 season. Maddox, 27, first felt discomfort in spring training. He pitched in eight minor league games before being shut down again. Dr. Neal ElAttrache performed the surgery at the Kerlan-Jobe Institute... Double A manager Darren Fenster joined the coaching staff for the road trip... Fashion designer Ralph Lauren, who was born in the Bronx, threw out the first pitch... Cora ended his pregame news conference by mentioning that Thursday was the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Maria striking his native Puerto Rico. Proud to be Puerto Rican, proud of my island, he said. * The Boston Herald In historic regular season, Red Sox wrap up AL East crown with win over Yankees Jason Mastrodonato NEW YORK For the Red Sox, it took a lot of sweat, some long at-bats, a bad throw from the Yankees center fielder and a lifeboat tossed to them by their knuckleballer, but they finally did it. After three grueling games at Yankee Stadium, the Red Sox got what they came for with an 11-6 win last night that clinched the American League East title and ignited a raucous celebration on their rival s home field. The final out felt more like a chance to exhale after a bullet dodged instead of a hearty triumph. The Yankees gave them hell for three days. The Sox' obvious flaws in their bullpen were exposed. But it s still a 104-win team, the first 100-team of Dave Dombrowski s long career, and one that had the president of baseball operations in awe as he stood up from the back of the press box and quietly gazed onto the field to watch the postgame celebration from afar.

9 Before the season, if you would have told me we would have made that last weekend meaningless, as far as going into Fenway against the Yankees, you wouldn t have believed it, the team architect said a few minutes later. It s just a wonderful feeling. They ve done a great job. This was nothing like the Red Sox previous two titles. Three straight years atop the division ought to feel good for ownership and the front office, regardless of how it was done. The 2016 regular-season performance was a memorable release of frustration after backto-back last-place finishes in '14 and '15. But 2018 was bigger, better and more emphatic. The second-place team in the division has the third-best record in the majors, and yet the division was won with an astounding 10 days still to play. The separation between the Red Sox and Yankees may not have looked large this week, but it s been gigantic on the season. It nearly was a clean sweep from beginning to end, with the Red Sox spending all but 11 days with at least a share of first place. They haven't trailed since June 26. And they never fell more than two games behind. We ve only got nine more games left, J.D. Martinez said. That s crazy. We were talking about that. Why do I feel like the season went by so fast? It s usually not like that. Usually you hit August and it s kind of like dragging on. But you look back now and it s like, Wow, that s a quick season. The bullpen is a continued point of emphasis as many wonder if the Sox can hold a lead in October, but after last night s late rally and subsequent lockdown, the Sox are a remarkable 86-4 when leading after seven innings. They've collected 45 come-from-behind wins, and in 11 of them, including last night s, they were losing heading into the seventh inning. Eduardo Rodriguez walked seven Yankees in an ugly performance in this one. Heath Hembree relieved him and immediately allowed a grand slam to Giancarlo Stanton. The bullpen failed, again. And the Red Sox won, again. Steven Wright picked them up with three scoreless innings. They got a little help from Yankees center fielder Aaron Hicks, who bounced one into the stands on a routine sacrifice fly to create a three-run seventh inning. And Mookie Betts got the party started early with a massive three-run shot off Aroldis Chapman in the eighth. Most of the fans dressed in white made their ways for the exit, but a large group of Red Sox fans waited for the celebration. This place, even the new stadium, it still haunts me as a Boston guy, Red Sox president Sam Kennedy said. You come in here and it s a scary place to play, and the fans are unbelievably intense. It s definitely rewarding to get it done in Yankee Stadium." Martinez's 41-homer season (and counting) has been sizable, but the roster otherwise is almost identical to last year's team, with one noticeable change on the bench. First-year manager Alex Cora has proved to be a cohesive team leader capable of bringing a calming influence to a team with a payroll north of $240 million. His keen eye has continuously identified necessary mechanical adjustments in his own players, and flaws in the opponents.

10 The proof is in the standings, with the Sox 104 wins (and counting) one away from tying a franchise record. They ve won 11 more games than a year ago. And they have the second-most wins all-time by any team with a first-year manager. ' Only Ralph Houk s 1961 Yankees had more (109 wins). Not in recent years did the manager receive this much credit, but the players can t help themselves with Cora. If he hadn t pulled Betts aside after Wednesday s loss and gave him a long talk about pressure and expectations, the Red Sox might be going to Cleveland still trying to clinch. I actually talked to Mookie (Wednesday) about his approach and everything, Cora said of Betts, who hadn't homered since Aug. 30. I know he s close to 30 home runs, one away, and three stolen bases from 30, and it s easy to get caught up in that and try to hit homers. I told him, Fred McGriff, I talked to him in 02 when I played with the Dodgers, and home runs come in bunches. You go at-bats without one, then all of a sudden you hit one and get into a groove and hit three in four games. Betts was too patient at the plate for Cora s liking, and the manager had no problem telling him, even though Cora was a utility infielder who hit 35 career home runs and Betts could clear that total before this season ends. But Betts listens to Cora. He sat me down and told me to relax, Betts said. He said, You ve had a great season. He repeatedly tells me, There is no doubt you're the best player in the league. That s obviously a confidence booster. A day after the talk, Betts went 4-for-5 with three runs, two doubles, one homer and five RBI, one of his best games of the year. "Try to enjoy these moments because they don t come that often," he said. The Sox began working for last night's celebration back in February, when they went 22-9 in spring training, best in the bigs. They cruised through the summer, entering the mid-year break with 68 wins, a franchise record for the first half. Five players made the AL All-Star team. When they swept the Yankees over a four-game series in early August, the division was nearly won. I think it s just a different feeling, Betts said. We have 104 wins. We ve kind of proven how good we are. We have that confidence every time we step on the field. And I think that s the difference. Disappointment might destroy the good vibes if October doesn t go as planned. But the Sox proved everything they could during the regular season. One of the best in franchise history. Red Sox pop the corks again in New York, and it feels surreal Steve Buckley NEW YORK There will be plenty of time between now and Game 1 of the Division Series to wring your hands over the Red Sox, plenty of time to worry about middle relief, plenty of time to wonder about this team s second-half inability to be sluggin the long ball. But let s take a moment to consider something that would have been preposterous in the pre-2004 days, something that your grandparents and great-grandparents could not possibly have imagined.

11 We now have three documented cases in the 21st century in which the Red Sox have uncorked cases of champagne in a New York ballpark. It happened in 2004 at original-but-refurbished Yankee Stadium, when the Red Sox finished off the Bombers in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series to win the pennant, capping the greatest postseason comeback in baseball history. It happened in 2016 at new Yankee Stadium, when the Red Sox, though coming off a horrible loss thanks to Mark Teixeira s walk-off grand slam off Fightin Joe Kelly, nonetheless clinched the AL East on the strength of the Baltimore Orioles 3-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. And, yes, it happened again last night. After two nights of flailing and failing, the Red Sox finally solved the riddle of the 2018 American League East, claiming first place via an 11-6 victory over the Yankees. The issue surely was in doubt in the fourth inning, this after Giancarlo Stanton hit a grand slam off Sox reliever Heath Hembree to give the Yankees a 6-4 lead. But the Sox roared back in the late innings thanks to home runs that s right, real, live dingers by Jackie Bradley Jr., Brock Holt and Mookie Betts. When it was over, the celebrating on the field was less about piles of humanity and more about healthy handshakes and bro-ey hugs. And while the obligatory clubhouse champagne fest was all that you would have expected, it did have a shelf life. The Red Sox were on to Cleveland. For Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who wasn t with the Sox in 04 or 16, the fact that this happened in New York still was every bit as special. It was, after all, at the New York Palace last year that then-houston Astros bench coach Alex Cora interviewed for the Sox managerial job while the Stros were in town to play the Yankees in the ALCS. It was between Games 2 and 3, he said. I walk into a suite at the Palace with a lot of confidence. I figure I ll give it a shot... I went into that suite, they hired me, and it s fitting that we re here. See? Everything comes up roses when the Red Sox are in New York. Jason Varitek, captain of the 04 Red Sox and now a member of the front office, was in the clubhouse last night, with goggles covering his eyes as in days of old. He also was in the clubhouse after the Sox stunning loss to the Yankees in the 2003 ALCS. Even after that, you would still hope that anything could happen, said Tek. But once we broke through in 2004, we ve been able to carry it on for multiple celebrations. We weren t a one-hit wonder, he said. Knowing that makes me very happy. You can breath now, Red Sox fans. No more horrible thoughts about the Sox commemorating the 40th anniversary of the infamous Collapse of 78 by staging an infamous collapse of 18. From here til the end of the regular season, it s all about tidying up for October. But today, if only for today, this being Boston and it all being about championships or bust, it s OK to pause for a moment to marvel over the three champagne celebrations in the Bronx. It staggers the mind is what it does. It used to be that New York is where Red Sox championship dreams went to die, and they were usually horrible, turn-your-head-away deaths. There was Aaron Boone taking Tim Wakefield out of the yard in Game 7 of the 03 ALCS, this after thenmanager Grady Little s alarm clock didn t go off and he was oversleeping while Pedro Martinez stumbled past his 100-pitch bewitching hour.

12 There was Game 6 of the 1986 World Series at Shea Stadium, with Mookie Wilson s grounder going between Bill Buckner s legs to set the stage for the Mets Series-clinching victory in Game 7. Roll the clock back to 1949, and there are the Red Sox, losing two games in two tries at Yankee Stadium to hand the pennant to the Bombers. New York, New York... it used to be a hell of a town for the Red Sox. Even a trip through the microfilm to the very early days of Red Sox history turns up nothing in terms of champagne celebrations taking place in New York. When the Red Sox defeated the New York Giants in the 1912 World Series, their clinching, 10-inning 3-2 victory was at Fenway Park. When they defeated the Brooklyn Robins in the 1916 World Series, the Game 5 clincher, a 4-1 Boston victory, was at Braves Field. And yet three times in this century the Red Sox have turned Yankee Stadium into their very own Chuck E. Cheese s, playing all kinds of fun and crazy games after the for-real games have been completed. And imagine: If the wild card-bound Yankees emerge victorious, they meet the Red Sox in the Division Series. It s at times like these that 2003 seems like a long, long time ago. Red Sox notebook: Victory hits home for Alex Cora on anniversary of Hurricane Maria Jason Mastrodonato NEW YORK The sounds of Alex Cora s phone alerts were going off repeatedly in the background as he tried to get through his postgame press conference last night. On the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Maria, which decimated Cora s homeland of Puerto Rico and left more than 3,000 dead, Cora s Red Sox clinched the American League East title with an 11-6 win over the New York Yankees. Doing it today, my phone is going nuts, he said. I already called (my daughter) Camila, (my girlfriend) Angelica, and my mom. I called (my brother) Joey, but I think he's sleeping probably. I think for our country, it's great. There are a lot of people who are proud of me, but like I've been saying, I'm prouder of them. Cora hasn t been able to hide his emotions all year. When he talks about Puerto Rico, tears often begin forming in his eyes. Before last night s game, he got choked up at the end of his press conference when he reminded reporters of the anniversary date. By the way, Maria, today, one-year anniversary, he said. Thank you for you guys support. Impressive all the videos now after a year. You watch the video and you re like Wow. Proud to be Puerto Rican, proud of my island, thank you guys. Getting to celebrate on the anniversary again made him cry.

13 For me to be here, standing on my two feet, being able to clinch this on this date, I know it means a lot to them (in Puerto Rico), he said. I had a lot of friends today in the stands. They're happy. They're happy. Like I've been saying, every time we win, if somebody's happy back home, I'm proud of that. All is Wright again Steven Wright quickly is becoming the Red Sox most trusted set-up man. The knuckleballer saved the bullpen last night, when Heath Hembree allowed a grand slam to Giancarlo Stanton in the fourth inning and put the Sox in a 6-4 hole. Wright took over in the fifth and changed the flow of the game, slowing down the Yankees lineup and causing them to take some ugly swings over three scoreless innings. He gave up just one hit. Just shows you how good he is, Mookie Betts said. That s tough to do especially against a lineup like that. He came in and put up some zeroes, gave us opportunities. That s all we need is an opportunity and we can exploit that. Wright has yet to allow a run since coming back from the disabled list. He s allowed just six hits in 10 scoreless innings. Who's on third? Rafael Devers is going to get a chance to prove himself as the Red Sox best third baseman before the playoffs begin. The Sox can t seem to find a reliable player at the position, particularly on defense. Eduardo Nunez has gotten most of the reps at the hot corner since the All-Star break, but he made a crucial error Wednesday night, letting a routine grounder roll through his legs with the bases loaded, and is now out with more soreness in his right leg. Cora seems to favor Nunez above the rest, but his latest injury to his left hamstring will keep him out until at least Monday, giving Devers a chance to into a groove. Devers was in the starting lineup last night and went 2-for-5 with two runs. The 21-year-old has just seven starts in September and is 6-for-28 in that time. Has Cora already settled on Nunez as the starting third baseman in the playoffs? Or will he look at this as a competition? Nunez has been playing well, we know that, Cora said. His swing is very similar to what he did last year. Obviously, Raffy, his at-bats are getting better. We ll get there when we get there but we re very comfortable with the three of them playing, honestly." The third player Cora referenced, Brock Holt, was in the lineup last night. He went 1-for-4 with a home run in the fourth inning and also walked, but struck out three times. With him it s all about being disciplined. If he stays in the zone we know the kind of damage he can do, Cora said. Barnes back Matt Barnes made his return to the Red Sox bullpen last night after missing the last two weeks with hip inflammation.

14 It s good, feeling much better, Barnes said. I d like to get a few outings under my belt, definitely. But we re going to be smart with it still. All I can say is it feels good now and I m looking forward to getting back out there. Barnes is one of the few reliable relievers the Red Sox have, though he had a rough patch in the second half. He started August with a 2.25 ERA and ended with a 3.51 ERA. We re not going to put him in a high leverage situation right away, Cora said. Swihart start Blake Swihart got a rare start last night, this time at first base for the struggling Mitch Moreland, and went 1-for-3. Moreland is 1-for-15 with eight strikeouts and two walks in his last five games. "Health-wise, he's good, Cora said. Hitting, he's struggling right now. You see it mechanic-wise. He's very pull-happy. He's swinging and missing a lot. So just stay away from him today. Maybe tomorrow. Kind of like, I don't want to say like Jackie Bradley Jr. I haven't talked to him about it. But just mentally, kind of like give him a breather and relax. And see if we can get back to what he was doing in the first part of the season." Right-hander Austin Maddox underwent successful right shoulder rotator cuff surgery yesterday, and his recovery time is expected to be approximately 12 months. The 27-year-old had an 0.52 ERA in 17⅓ innings late in 2017, leading to a spot on the postseason roster. He never pitched in * The Providence Journal Red Sox 11, Yankees 6: Boston clinches third straight A.L. East crown Bill Koch NEW YORK This third straight American League East title for the Red Sox feels defined by resilience. Rookie manager? More than welcome. Ailing club cornerstones? No problem. An occasionally faulty bullpen? Just one more obstacle to overcome in the late innings. Alex Cora has handled his roster with aplomb, coaxing career years out of a handful of key pieces. Stars like Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez have taken the reins in the lineup. And 46 come-from-behind wins serve as a testament to Boston s collective will and resourcefulness. The latest example of this came Thursday night at Yankee Stadium, with the Red Sox finally putting New York away after missed opportunities the previous two evenings. What remained of the largest crowd at the ballpark in the Bronx this season, a sellout of 47,351 fans, looked on helplessly as Boston celebrated in front of them after an 11-6 victory. Like I ve been saying all along, they don t stop playing, Cora said. They just show up and keep playing. We ve been hearing that a lot from the opposition lately. I think that s the greatest compliment I can get for our team. Cora made enough of the right moves, Betts was a catalyst atop the lineup and Steven Wright was nails in relief while the Red Sox offense spent the final five innings battering the Yankees into submission. Betts

15 capped a 4-for-5, five-rbi, three-run tour de force by crushing his 30th home run of the season in the top of the eighth, a towering three-run shot to the stands in left that served as the final nail in New York s coffin. All the guys in the clubhouse, I think we all understand you have to play a full 27 outs to win the game, Betts said. Make them earn it. Every time you step on that field you have to earn your win. Nobody is going to roll over. Boston s three runs in the seventh erased a one-run deficit, a rally started against Chad Green and finished against Dellin Betances. Jackie Bradley Jr. smoked a leadoff homer down the line in right to tie the game, with the ball settling in the second deck to make it 6-6. Christian Vazquez singled to right, Betances was summoned and the bases were loaded three batters later after an Andrew Benintendi double to right and a Martinez intentional walk. Up stepped Xander Bogaerts in a 5-for-28 hole and needing just a sacrifice fly. He lifted a drive to deep center that chased home pinch runner Tzu-Wei Lin, giving the Red Sox the lead. Aaron Hicks gifted Boston an insurance run on the same play when he fired a one-hopper to third that caromed off Miguel Andujar and into the stands, an error that saw Benintendi awarded home plate all the way from second base. It s just a bunch of guys that put together good at-bats, Benintendi said. Nobody gives at-bats away, even when we re down by whatever seven or eight runs. Nobody gives away at-bats. Wright had slowed the relentless New York attack by that point, his knuckleball dancing through the cool night air. He set down nine of the 10 men he faced after entering in the fifth, allowing just a two-out single to center in the seventh by Didi Gregorius. Ryan Brasier worked a eighth and Craig Kimbrel recorded the final three outs in the ninth, cementing the 10th A.L. East crown for the Red Sox since I think this one, we ve got a great group of guys, Wright said. We ve got a good leader. Alex has done a great job throughout the season and we get along together. Boston looked to be on the ropes after the fourth, with starter Eduardo Rodriguez coughing up his second multiple-run lead of the night and Giancarlo Stanton striking what seemed to be a hammer blow. The slugger s two-out grand slam to the boxes in right came after Rodriguez had issued three of his career-high seven walks in succession with two outs. Heath Hembree was summoned and left a slider within range of Stanton s powerful bat, turning a 4-2 Boston advantage into a 6-4 deficit. It would have been easy to fold when Stanton hit that grand slam and kind of pack it in, Benintendi said. We put together good at-bats, didn t quit and it started from pitch one of the game. It was a good win for sure. Betts led off the fifth with a double to deep left, the second of his two rockets that crashed off the wall. That chased Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka, and it was the ballyhooed New York bullpen that was last to buckle under pressure. David Robertson induced Martinez to ground into a double play, allowing Betts to slip in the back door from third base, and Green fanned the side in order in the sixth before the wheels came off. It was a lot of work, Cora said. It s not only me. The front office, the medical staff, the coaches, media [relations] everything that has to do with the organization helped us out to accomplish this. Red Sox Journal: Betts stint at DH will be short-lived Bill Koch NEW YORK Mookie Betts should return to the outfield and Matt Barnes is likely to return to the pitcher s mound this weekend in Cleveland.

16 Betts served as the designated hitter Thursday night in the series finale with the Yankees, still managing the left-side soreness that caused his removal from Sunday s game against the Mets. Barnes hasn t appeared in a game since Sept. 3 while battling left hip inflammation, leaving the Red Sox bullpen exposed at the back end. Betts remains in the running for the American League Most Valuable Player award despite hitting just two home runs in his last 34 games. His overall offensive numbers are still stellar, and his defense in right field further sets Betts apart from several other contenders. Being able to throw without any discomfort will be the final hurdle for Betts to clear. He will [throw] after he gets his treatment and he stretches out and all that, Boston manager Alex Cora said. I don t think it s going to be a problem. I asked him today, I said, Let s DH today and play the outfield during the weekend. Betts led off Thursday game with a double, then scored on a J.D. Martinez single. Boston s bullpen was largely at fault for Tuesday night s 3-2 loss at Yankee Stadium, with Brandon Workman walking a pair of batters and Ryan Brasier allowing a three-run homer by Neil Walker to wipe out a 1-0 deficit. Barnes leads all Red Sox relievers with 92 strikeouts in just 58 1/3 innings and is the likely setup man for closer Craig Kimbrel in the postseason. He s a full go now, Cora said. He s available to pitch. We re not going to put him in a high leverage situation right away, but he s good to go. Nunez injured The Red Sox won t be as aggressive with Eduardo Nunez (left hamstring soreness). The third baseman left in the ninth inning of Wednesday night s 10-1 defeat against New York. His tworun error in the third helped put Boston in an early 3-0 hole, and Nunez called for Cora and the medical staff after beating out an infield single in his final at-bat. He s not playing this weekend most likely, Cora said. I m going to try to stay away from him. Hopefully he ll be back for the Baltimore series. It was the same knee that Nunez injured twice last season, the second time in the opening game of the A.L. Division Series against the Astros. Cora looked on as Houston s bench coach while Nunez crumpled to the ground coming out of the batter s box he never returned at any point during the Astros 3-1 victory in the best-of-five matchup. That opens the door for Rafael Devers to get an extended look at third base and potentially salvage a spot on the 25-man playoff roster. Devers has made just six starts since Aug. 15 and a mere 13 since the All-Star break while enduring three separate stints on the disabled list. We ll see how disciplined he is, Cora said. With him, it s all about being disciplined. If he stays in the zone we know the damage he can do. Leon soldiers on Sandy Leon has shown few visible signs of disgust while struggling through a dreadful slump at the plate. There were no thrown bats or helmets while Leon was stuck in an 0-for-30 drought, one he snapped Wednesday with an RBI single in the fourth. The catcher s slash line has dipped to.183/.287/.240 through 85 games, and Boston s.544 OPS from behind the plate is last in the big leagues by a wide margin.

17 He s working at it, Cora said. Catching, nothing has changed. We re proud of him. To go 0-forwhatever, it s hard. Leon s saving grace has been the general comfort of the pitching staff with him behind the plate. The Red Sox total a 3.31 earned-run average when throwing to Leon compared with 3.67 overall. Opposing hitters sport a.658 OPS with Leon calling pitches and have totaled 69 homers in 655 2/3 innings. Those numbers rise to a.697 OPS and 67 home runs in just 561 2/3 innings with Christian Vazquez behind the plate. Maddox has surgery The Red Sox announced reliever Austin Maddox underwent right rotator cuff surgery on Wednesday and is expected to miss the 2019 season. Maddox didn t appear in a game for Boston this year. The 27-year-old showed promise out of the bullpen in 2017, allowing just one earned run across 17 1/3 innings and striking out 14 against two walks. Maddox appeared in eight minor-league games this season and was hit hard, surrendering 19 hits and 12 earned runs in just 7 2/3 innings. Maddox s recovery time is projected at 12 months. His surgery was performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache at the Kerlan-Jobe Institute in Los Angeles. Red Sox bats have suddenly lost their pop Bill Koch NEW YORK The Red Sox offense is starting to resemble the 2017 version in one key area, and it s not a positive development. Boston is suffering through a collective power outage entering the final 10 games of 2018, one that could spell trouble for its playoff chances in October. Several key cogs in a lineup that has driven the Red Sox to the top of the Major League team ranks in runs scored, slugging percentage and extra-base hits are in a bit of a funk. Boston manager Alex Cora would like to see his club s approach revert back to the one that propelled the Red Sox to a franchise record pace in the win column through the first five months. Hopefully we can get going, Cora said. I think it goes back to being aggressive in certain at-bats. Instead of being 0-1, 1-2, if there s a pitch available 1-0, try to do damage. Boston carried just a.679 OPS through 16 September games into Thursday s series finale with New York at Yankee Stadium. That s an even 140 points down from the.819 the Red Sox posted through 27 games in August, which was a season best. To say that certain players like Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez are in full-blown slumps would be inaccurate, but they re certainly not peppering the bleachers with fly balls like they did early in I m going to talk to them in the daily meeting we have, Cora said. We re going to address it. We re going to talk about it. It s not like we re going to go out there and just swing, swing, swing. Betts has hit just two of his 29 homers in his last 34 games. Martinez has totaled just four of his 41 in his last 30 games. Those two players have done the lion s share of the work in the Boston order this season, but the Red Sox haven t reached the top of so many statistical categories thanks to just two players. The supporting cast, in terms of the long ball, has largely gone missing. Andrew Benintendi has homered twice in his last 55 games. Mitch Moreland has gone deep once in his last 30 games. Xander Bogaerts remains stuck one shy of setting a new career best, homering only twice in his last 23 games.