Tuesday’s Game 1 of the Wild Card Series between the Yankees and Red Sox went as expected.
Both starters, Cam Schlittler and Payton Tolle, lived up to their hype, allowing just one run between them through the first four innings. However, things shifted in the fifth.
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After Tolle got the first two outs on eight pitches, Red Sox manager Chad Tracy came out to pull his talented young left-hander after 83 pitches. The 23-year-old wasn’t as dominant as he had been for most of this season. The Red Sox skipper said the Yankees did a good job of making Tolle work and had a lot of traffic on the bases, which the southpaw navigated out of with minimal damage, but there were a few factors in Tracy’s decision.
“He competed extremely well for the time he was out there,” Tracy said. “He gave us what he could. The number being up in the mid-80s, still trying to get through five [innings], probably higher than what you normally see from Payton, and to be expected in an environment like this, but I thought he competed his butt off.”
Tracy decided to use left-hander Erik Miller to face Ben Rice and finish the fifth. Rice came into the at-bat with a double in the first inning before Tolle struck him out swinging in the third. However, Rice smashed a 97 mph sinker over the heart of the plate that traveled 423 feet to straightaway center field for his first home run of the night, and put the Yankees up 2-0.
The move and the immediate aftermath led to questions about Tracy’s decision. And he elaborated on his thought process and chalked it up to Rice getting one off of Miller.
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“Not necessarily just the pitch count,” Tracy said. “You’re trailing already. You’re moving third time through the order. Rice had already hit a double in the gap off of him. And you have a nice lane there for Miller and obviously, he got him. Felt like it was time to go.”
“As a competitor, as a starting pitcher in this league, you want to go as long as you can every time,” Tolle said after the game. “But with what our bullpen has done all year, I believe they are going to make the right decision. I want to go as long as I can, but I understand those guys picked me up a lot this year.”
Despite the Rice homer, Boston was only down two runs with plenty of time to make a comeback. But it was a jolt that the Yankees needed at the moment.
“That was electric. That insurance run, that was huge for us. A little bit of breathing room,” Spencer Jones said after the game. “He smoked that ball. We were super fired up about it.”
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That electricity was taken out on the Boston bullpen, which couldn’t keep the score close. The Red Sox wound up using five relievers, who allowed eight runs, including a grand slam to Rice that put the game away in the eighth.
With the loss, the Red Sox face elimination in Game 2 on Wednesday night. The team has faced adversity all season long to get to this point, but they understand the challenge they face.
“That’s why Tolle was out there; that’s why Schlittler was out there. Trying really hard to get Game 1 and now you have to win two in a row,” Tracy said. “You have to be aggressive and try to win as many moments as we can. Because now we have to win two in a row to keep our season alive.”
“I haven’t heard the fat lady sing yet,” Tolle said. “We’re going to keep going out there. I believe in us. It’s going to be fun to watch these guys compete tomorrow.”
Former Yankee Sonny Gray will take the mound for Boston, looking to force a deciding Game 3.
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