Britain treasures tradition and the New York Yankees wrapped up Major League Baseball’s first trip to Europe with one of their sport’s classic customs: a late-inning pinstriped comeback.
Gary Sanchez on Sunday hit a go-ahead, two-run single in a nine-run seventh inning as the Yankees overcome a four-run deficit to beat the Boston Red Sox 12-8 for a two-game sweep of the groundbreaking, high-scoring trek across the pond.
“It was a pretty cool experience,” Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge said.
Photo: AFP
D.J. LeMahieu doubled off Marcus Walden (6-1) leading off the seventh and hit a two-run double against Josh Taylor later in the inning as the Yankees opened an 11-4 lead, sending 14 batters to the plate in their highest-scoring inning in four years.
“The energy never let up,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “It felt like a huge event, these two games.”
Boston and New York combined for 50 runs in the games, four more than in any previous consecutive matchups of the rivals.
Batters totaled 65 hits, 15 doubles and 10 homers over 18 innings that took 9 hours, 6 minutes to play out at the London Stadium.
While Sweet Caroline in the eighth inning brought the atmosphere of Fenway Park, the final out triggered the playing of New York, New York, making it seem like a summer night in the Bronx.
The games at the home of the soccer club West Ham United drew 118,718, a mix mostly of Americans who flew over and Britons.
“Like I was telling the guys yesterday, it felt like a soccer match at the end, so it was pretty cool,” said New York’s Didi Gregorius, who went deep against Ryan Brasier in the eighth and extended New York’s record streak of games with home runs to 31.
New York won the opener 17-13 after taking an 11-run lead and the finale after going ahead 12-4.
Zack Britton ruled Britannia on both days, escaping trouble in the eighth inning with the tying run at the plate.
New York relied on an old chap — Aroldis Chapman — who closed out each game and struck out the final three batters on Sunday.
“I did not think I would pitch in both games, winning by that many runs,” Chapman said.
Built for the 2012 Olympic Games, the stadium was designed for minimal wind, leading to speculation that might have been a factor in pitchers’ difficulty locating breaking balls.
Shadows, glare, white seats and a swift turf left every lead as perilous as a 16th century trip to the Tower of London.
“The ball flies. The ground balls, too,” said New York’s Luis Cessa, who pitched shutout ball from the second inning through the fifth.
Before a sellout crowd of 59,059, defending champions the Red Sox began brightly. Xander Bogaerts, J.D. Martinez and Christian Vazquez became the first trio of Boston batters in four decades to hit home runs in the first inning, banging and mashing to a 4-0 lead against Stephen Tarpley, who was making his first major league start, but Boston made a depressing Brexit.
The World Series champions dropped a season-high 11 games behind the American League East-leading Yankees (54-28), who won for the 13th time in 14 games.
“Right now, they are a lot better than us and we need to get better,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “Last year, we were putting teams away. This year, we’re not doing that... It’s not a lack of effort. I think it’s lack of execution.”
Elsewhere on Sunday, the Rays crushed the Rangers 6-2, the Astros sunk the Mariners 6-1, the White Sox edged the Twins 4-3, the Dodgers routed the Rockies 10-5, the Nationals beat the Tigers 2-1, the Brewers defeated the Pirates 2-1 and the Reds outlasted the Cubs 8-6.
The Indians blanked the Orioles 2-0, the Athletics routed the Angels 12-3, the Cardinals outlasted the Padres 5-3 in 11 innings, the Phillies mauled the Marlins 13-6, the Royals edged the Blue Jays 7-6, the Giants defeated the Diamondbacks 10-4 and the Mets beat the Braves 8-5.
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