Yankees’ clutch hits and hustle push the series to a winner-take-all Game 3

New York—The Yankees took down the Red Sox 4-3 in a nail-biter in Game 2 of the Wild Card series. Carlos Rodon got the starting nod for the Yankees and faced off against Brayan Bello. 

Rodon worked a nice and easy 1-2-3 top of the first inning and recorded his first two strikeouts of the ballgame. 

With two outs in the bottom of the first inning, Cody Bellinger sent a single right back up the middle. The next batter, Ben Rice, launched a two-run bomb to give the Yankees an early 2-0 lead. 

"It felt amazing, it felt really good," Rcie said. "Just to, you know, obviously coming off a loss yesterday, too, and to kind of set the tone for us there early in the first inning, get us out to a lead. It felt really good." 

In the top of the second inning, Rodon retired the Red Sox in order on just six pitches to put together a shutdown inning with another strikeout. 

Rodon served up a leadoff single in the top of the third, followed by a walk to the No. 8 hitter. The next batter laid down a sac bunt, but a low throw from Rodon allowed the runner to reach and load the bases with nobody out. A couple of batters later, Trevor Story sent a two-run single right back up the middle to tie the game up at 2-2. Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Anthony Volpe turned a nice 4-6-3 double play to limit the damage. 

Ryan McMahon led off the bottom of the third inning with a line drive single to right field. A couple of batters later, Aaron Judge dunked in a bloop single to center field to knock Bello out of the game early. Trent Grisham then took over for McMahon at first base due to a fielder's choice. Grisham and Judge then executed a perfect double steal to put two runners in scoring position with one out. However, Belli flew out, and Rice lined out on a ball 109.4 mph off the bat to strand two runners in scoring position. 

In the top of the fourth inning, Rodon worked around a two-out single and picked up his fifth punchout of the ballgame.  

Giancarlo Stanton swung at ball four ahead in a 3-1 count, then Jazz Chisholm Jr. chased ball four in a 3-2 count, and Austin Wells grounded out as the Yankees went down in order in the bottom of the fourth. 

Grisham worked a two-out walk in the bottom of the fifth inning, then moved up to second base on a wild pitch. The next batter, Judge, dunked in an RBI single that kicked off Jarren Duran's glove to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead. The captain Judge is now 4-for-7 thus far in the Postseason. 

Story and the Red Sox responded right away with a solo home run off Rodon to tie the game up at 3-3. Rodon then walked Alex Bregman on four pitches; it looked like Aaron Boone was coming out to pull Rodon, but he convinced him to keep him in. Rodon then picked up a flyout and induced a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning. 

Rice led off the bottom of the sixth inning with an infield single to beat the shift. A couple of batters later, Austin Wells hit a two-out single to left field. But Anthony Volpe struck out to strand two runners on base. 

For whatever reason, Rodon remained in the game and walked a batter on four pitches before hitting a batter. Fernando Cruz replaced Rodon on the mound; Cruz picked up the first two outs, then a runner reached, but Jazz made an unbelievable stop to save a run, but a runner did reach to load the bases. Then Story hit a deep flyout to strand the bases loaded, and Cruz was pumped up. 

“This is something that I've been dreaming, imagining since I was a little kid,” Cruz said.. “Emotion is going to come out - I'm an emotional guy, I'm passionate about what I do, I love what I do. I love doing it for my guys.”

Carlos Rodon's final line: Six plus innings pitched, four hits allowed, three earned runs, three walks, 10 swings and misses, and six strikeouts on 91 pitches. Rodon threw his fastball 37% of the time, the slider 26%, the changeup 25%, and the sinker 11% of the time. Rodon was solid tonight, but it was definitely a battle for him. Every time the offense gave him the lead, he gave it right back. 

"Yeah, I mean, definitely a battle. They strung some good at-bats together, but you know, defensively, we had some great turns," Rodon said. "You know, Cruz picked me up there in the seventh, and then you know I think we played a pretty complete ball game tonight, and the boys swung it late, and we ran the bases really well, I mean, played some good baseball, and got out there with a win. So looking forward to tomorrow."

With one out in the bottom of the seventh inning, Grisham roped a double into the right field corner. However, Judge struck out looking, and Belli flew out to waste Grisham's double. The Yankees are now 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position this series. 

Devin Williams took over for Cruz on the mound in the top of the eighth inning and gave up a leadoff single to Bregman. Williams then started a 1-6-3 double play, then picked up a strikeout to work a scoreless frame. 

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Jazz worked a two-out walk. The next batter, Austin Wells, just kept an RBI single fair in right field to score a hustling Jazz and give the Yankees a 4-3 lead. 

"Just got a pitch to put in play," Wells said. "He was making some tough pitches there throughout, but yeah, I felt like he made a decent swing on one of his best pitches." 

Jazz talked postgame on ESPN about what his mindset was when that ball was put in play. 

"Any outfielder moves to the left or right, I gotta score," Jazz said. "That's all I was thinking."

The Yankees' closer, David Bednar, was called upon to pitch the bottom of the ninth inning and retired the Red Sox in order with a couple of strikeouts to send this series to a win-or-go-home Game 3 tomorrow night. 

Cam Schlittler will get the starting nod for the Yankees, making his Postseason debut, facing off against Connelly Early.  The first pitch is scheduled for 6:08 p.m. ET, but if the Dodgers win, it will be at 8:08 p.m. ET; either way, it will be on ESPN again. 

My thoughts on the game: That game took years off my life. Rodon was solid, but not great. He did put together a quality start, but had too many walks and surrendered the lead twice. Rice got things started; the fact that he was on the bench yesterday is just insane. Jazz, who was also on the bench yesterday thanks to Boone and the Yankees ' god-awful analytics department and was rightfully visibly frustrated in his postgame press conference, worked a huge walk and scored on hustling like crazy going first to home in just over nine seconds. The bullpen did their job as Cruz, Williams, and Bednar combined for three shutout innings with three strikeouts. Judge had two more hits tonight as he is now 4-for-8 in the first two games of this series. And Wells with the swing of his life to give the Yankees the lead with two outs in the eighth, with some help from Jazz’s elite speed. On to tomorrow, in what could be the Yankees' last game of the season, or the start of the chase for 28. 

"I feel great," Jazz said. "I always tell you guys I trust my guys and think we can do whatever, so right now, I'll all I can say is I feel like we're going to win Game 3."