Every fact from Yankees-Red Sox Game 2
The Yankees outlasted the Red Sox, 12-8, in another back-and-forth slugfest on Sunday to sweep the historic two-game London Series.
After falling, 17-13, in Game 1, the Red Sox started strong by hitting three homers and scoring four runs in the first inning of Game 2. But New York erupted for nine runs in the seventh against Boston’s bullpen and was able to escape further trouble in the eighth after the Sox scored four times and brought the tying run to the plate. Aroldis Chapman slammed the door on Boston in the ninth, striking out the side after allowing a leadoff double to Marco Hernandez.
Facts you should know:
• MLB's first two regular-season games on European soil saw the Yankees and Red Sox combine for 50 runs, setting a two-game record for runs scored between the two clubs, as the baseball-configured London Stadium turned into a launching pad. The previous record for runs scored in any two-game span between the Yankees and Red Sox was 46 on two occasions: Sept. 23-24, 1933, and Aug. 21-22, 2009.
• The Yankees scored 29 runs in the sweep, their most in a two-game span since June 10-11, 2017 (30). New York has averaged more than eight runs per game over its past 14 games, a span in which it has gone 13-1.
• The European-born Didi Gregorius extended the Yankees’ MLB-record homer streak to 31 games with his blast leading off the eighth inning against Ryan Brasier. The only time New York's streak was extended later in a game was on June 11, when Brett Gardner hit a leadoff homer in the ninth inning of Game 2 of a doubleheader against the Mets.
• Sunday represented the first time the Red Sox went deep three times in the opening frame since Aug. 14, 1979, against the Twins, and the first time doing so against the Yankees since June 17, 1977.
• During their nine-run seventh inning, the Yankees sent 14 batters to the plate and tallied six hits and four walks. The Red Sox used three pitchers in the frame. Gary Sanchez came up with the go-ahead knock, plating a pair with his single to left field off Marcus Walden.
• With a pair of doubles in the Yankees’ big seventh, DJ LeMahieu ran his streak of multi-hit games to six, the longest by a Yankee since Carlos Beltran in 2014. Sunday marked LeMahieu’s 35th multi-hit game of the year, putting him one ahead of Ketel Marte for the MLB lead.
• For the second straight day, Zack Britton worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth inning to preserve a four-run Yankees lead. Boston brought the tying run to the plate in both games after previously trailing by eight or more runs.
• Of the 108 outs recorded between the two clubs in the series, relievers got 86 of them, and Red Sox left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez was responsible for 16 of the 22 outs by starting pitchers.