Yankees rally late to defeat Red Sox
In the opener of their three-game set against the New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox blew a 3-0 lead in the eighth inning on a less-than-stellar performance from trade-deadline acquisition Addison Reed and walked away with an embarrassing 5-4 loss, which put an end to their seven-game winning streak.
What made matters worse was the fact that recently acquired Todd Frazier, who many pundits said the Red Sox should go after, tallied the go-ahead single that scored Aaron Judge.
The Red Sox were supposed to be the team making a fool of the Yankees on Friday night. They came in on a winning streak while the Yankees had won just three of their last nine games, coming off the trade deadline.
Boston were all about proving they did not have to make big moves to improve the team and were in line to do that before Aaron Hicks hit a two-run home run, which started the fateful rally that broke Red Sox fans' hearts.
New York then went single, walk, single, single to make the lead 5-3 and earn the win in the opener of a three-game set that could go a long way in deciding the American League East.
Aroldis Chapman then made things interesting with three straight walks to start the ninth, but he was bailed out when Hicks nailed Eduardo Nunez, trying to advance on a sacrifice fly which turned into a double play that all but ended the scoring threat.
The Yankees now get to run out Cy Young candidate Luis Severino for Saturday's game and the Red Sox have to find a way to stop the momentum from this heart-breaking loss.
FRIDAY'S RESULTS
New York Yankees 5-4 Boston Red Sox
Philadelphia Phillies 6-7 New York Mets
Toronto Blue Jays 2-4 Pittsburgh Pirates
Tampa Bay Rays 0-5 Cleveland Indians
Detroit Tigers 4-9 Minnesota Twins
Miami Marlins 6-3 Colorado Rockies
Texas Rangers 6-4 Houston Astros
Chicago White Sox 6-3 Kansas City Royals
Milwaukee Brewers 10-11 Cincinnati Reds
St Louis Cardinals 8-5 Atlanta Braves
Arizona Diamondbacks 3-8 Chicago Cubs
Oakland Athletics 5-4 Baltimore Orioles
Seattle Mariners 5-6 Los Angeles Angels
Los Angeles Angels 3-4 San Diego Padres
CARRASCO BY NAME AND NATURE
Carlos Carrasco was borderline flawless in the Cleveland Indians' 5-0 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday.
He took a no-hitter into the seventh and ended up throwing eight scoreless innings, allowing two hits, walking two and striking out 10.
With the win, Cleveland moved to 61-52 for the regular season, while they hold a three-and-a-half game lead over the Minnesota Twins in the American League Central.
FOLTYNEWICZ'S TOWER OF MISERY
Atlanta Braves starter Mike Foltynewicz did not even make it out of the third against the St Louis Cardinals, giving up seven hits and six earned runs while walking four in 2 2/3 innings. Ouch.
Although the Cardinals' 8-5 win keeps them within a game of the National League Central-leading Chicago Cubs, Atlanta continue to disappoint, moving to 11 games off .500.
At 51-62, the Braves are 17 games adrift of the Washington Nationals, currently coasting in the National League East.
BUXTON LEADS THE WAY FOR TWINS
Water covers 70 per cent of the earth. The other 30 per cent is covered by Byron Buxton.
He proved that on a Miguel Cabrera fly ball in the Minnesota Twins' 9-4 win over the Detroit Tigers.
ASTROS AT RANGERS
Globe Life Park is one of the most underrated hitters' havens in all of baseball. The ball just flies out of that ballpark.
On Saturday night the Texas Rangers, who are second in MLB with 175 home runs, will get a shot at Mike Fiers, who is seventh in all of baseball in home runs allowed with 26.
The Houston Astros will be looking to stop a four-game skid that has featured three losses to the abysmal Chicago White Sox and a series-opening setback to the Rangers.