NEW YORK (AP) — Eduardo Rodriguez became the first Red Sox rookie left-hander to win 10 games in 43 years, and Boston slowed the New York Yankees’ march toward a postseason berth with a 5-1 victory Monday night.
The Yankees had a chance to clinch their first playoff appearance since 2012 with a win — what would’ve been their 10,000th franchise victory — and losses by Minnesota, Texas and the Angels.
But scoreboard watching was rendered unnecessary when Travis Shaw and Jackie Bradley Jr. each hit two-run homers off Ivan Nova (6-10). New York managed little offense after Alex Rodriguez’s sacrifice fly in the first ended Boston pitchers’ 29-inning scoreless stretch. New York dropped five games behind Toronto in the AL East with six to play.
The Yankees’ fourth loss in 10 games came in front of 39,476 fans, the smallest crowd for a matchup in the Bronx between these rivals since May 27, 1999, according to STATS.
Eduardo Rodriguez (10-6) gave up seven hits, six singles, in supplanting John Curtis, who went 11-8 in 1972, as the most recent Boston rookie lefty to reach 10 wins. Rodriguez walked one and struck out five in six innings of what interim manager Torey Lovullo said would be the 22-year-old’s final start of the season. Lovullo said Rodriguez “deserves a lot of consideration to be one of our mainstays next year.”
New York loaded the bases in the second on a single, walk and second baseman Dustin Pedroia’s fielding error, then Alex Rodriguez fell to one knee as he swung under a high fastball for strike three to end the threat.
Nova looked sharp early in his second start for Masahiro Tanaka, who is out with a right hamstring injury, allowing three hits while taking a 1-0 lead into the sixth.
He faltered after Xander Bogaerts doubled under the glove of diving third baseman Chase Headley with two outs in the sixth. Shaw, who had three hits, then lined the first pitch into the short porch in right field for a 2-1 Boston lead.
Bradley, who made two leaping, running catches in left field, connected with two outs in the seventh and Blake Swihart aboard.
Nova yielded seven hits and four runs in what most likely is the final start of his first year back from Tommy John surgery. Tanaka passed his final hurdle, acing his fielding drills Monday afternoon. The Japanese hurler will start Wednesday in preparation for a possible wild-card game in one week.
Deven Marrero hit his first career homer, off Caleb Cotham in the
eighth, to make it 5-1.
Trainer’s room
Red Sox: OF Rusney Castillo was given the night off because he had a slight upper right quadriceps strain. Lovullo said Castillo could play in an emergency. … David Ortiz was given a much needed day off, Lovullo said.
Yankees: Nathan Eovaldi (elbow inflammation) played catch for the third time since being shut down early this month. Manager Joe Girardi said he didn’t think Eovaldi would be on the roster if the Yankees are in the wild card, but it’s possible the right-hander could return in later rounds.
Up next
Rick Porcello (8-14) struck out 13 and allowed one run in eight innings against New York on Sept. 1 at Fenway Park, but was the loser in a matchup with the Yankees’ Tuesday starter Michael Pineda, who has yielded just one run over his past two starts.
Nats suspend closer Papelbon 4 games for fight with Harper
WASHINGTON — Bryce Harper is not quite sure what he could have done differently to avoid the dugout fight with teammate Jonathan Papelbon that resulted in the Washington Nationals suspending the closer for four games without pay.
“If you’re in a bar or if you’re in the dugout or if you’re anywhere,” Harper said Monday, a day after his scrap with Papelbon, “if someone grabs your neck, your first reaction is to do what I did, I guess.”
Harper, a leading NL MVP contender, also indicated he would be OK with Papelbon returning to the Nationals in 2016. The reliever has an $11 million guaranteed contract fr next season. “If ‘Paps’ can help us win a World Series next year, that’s what I need. That’s what this whole clubhouse needs,” Harper said. “We can’t be fighting or anything like that.”
Papelbon will miss the rest of this season. On Monday, he dropped his appeal of a three-game ban from Major League Baseball for throwing at an opponent’s head last week, and then missed Washington’s 5-1 victory over Cincinnati. After that punishment ends, Papelbon serves the Nationals’ suspension announced Monday.
Harper was held out of the home finale against the Reds for “his part in the altercation” with Papelbon, manager Matt Williams said. Harper, though, said after Sunday’s game that he was scheduled to be off Monday, anyway.
Asked whether he was disappointed at the way the Washington portion of his season ended, Harper said: “I’ve got three more years at Nats Park.”
General manager Mike Rizzo said Papelbon’s more severe discipline made clear who the club felt “was more at fault.”
On Sunday, after Harper flied out in the eighth inning against Philadelphia, he headed to the dugout, where he and Papelbon exchanged words. The argument escalated, and Papelbon reached out with his left hand and grabbed Harper by the throat.
Papelbon then shoved the outfielder toward the bench with both hands, before teammates and members of Williams’ coaching staff pulled the pair apart.
“It’s been a very difficult 24 hours for the organization,” Williams said.
Williams was at the other end of the dugout and, he said Monday, was not aware of exactly what happened until later in the day, when he saw video that made the rounds on Twitter immediately after the scuffle. Williams said he hadn’t seen that video before his postgame news conference Sunday and hadn’t sought information from his coaches or other players during the game. He added that because he was unaware of the extent of the confrontation, he sent Papelbon back out to pitch in the ninth inning. “I thought it was odd,” Rizzo said of the reliever returning to the mound after the fight. “But there’s a lot of things going on in the dugout at the time. Matt missed it. He owned up to it.”
When he eventually did see video of Papelbon clutching at Harper’s neck, Williams said, “I was upset. I was appalled.”
But he also made it sound as if a truly bothersome aspect was that everyone saw what happened.
“Generally, this happens between players in the confines of a private clubhouse. It doesn’t happen in the open, generally,” Williams said. “So that being said, that’s how we would prefer to do it.”
Both Williams and Rizzo said they had no problem with the way Harper jogged to first base on the fly ball that preceded the skirmish.
“I’ve got no problem with his effort level (or) the way he hustles,” Rizzo said. “It is the job of the veteran players to point out what they think when you’re not playing the game right. ‘Pap’ must have felt that he wasn’t and he called him on it. It takes a guy with some guts to call a player out nowadays.”
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