The Yankees finally opened their 2022 season today, at Yankee Stadium II, a week late due to the lockout, and an additional day late due to a rain postponement. And it was against the arch-rivals, the Boston Red Sox.
It got off to a rotten start. Gerrit Cole did not have it, and allowed 3 runs in the 1st inning. Nathan Eovaldi, who has frequently shown that Yankee general manager Brian Cashman made one of the biggest mistakes of his career by letting him go, didn't on this occasion, as the Yankees struck right back with 2 runs, including a home run by Anthony Rizzo.
Cole settled down after that, allowing just a hit batsman in the 2nd inning and a single in the 4th. Giancarlo Stanton led off the bottom of the 4th with a game-tying home run.
Chad Green pitched a scoreless 5th, but was not allowed to begin the 6th. Instead, Clay Holmes was sent out, and he allowed a double to Xander Bogaerts, a J.D. Martinez groundout that got Bogaerts to 3rd, and an RBI single by Alex Verdugo. Miguel Castro had to come on to pitch to get out of the inning.
But Jonathan Loáisiga pitched a perfect 7th, and Wandy Peralta a perfect 8th. With 1 out in the bottom of the 8th, DJ LeMahieu hit a home run to tie it at 4-4.
Aroldis Chapman came out to pitch the 9th, and got the Sox out 1-2-3. With 2 out in the bottom of the 9th, Aaron Judge doubled, and Rizzo was walked intentionally. It worked: Stanton struck out, and looked horrible in the process. We went to extra innings.
Michael King pitched the top of the 10th, and pitched okay, but a looper allowed the ghost runner to score, and give the Sox a 5-4 lead.
The Yankees started the bottom of the 10th with Marwin González subbing for Stanton as the ghost runner. LeMahieu was hit with a pitch, putting the winning run on. Joey Gallo grounded to 2nd, moving the runners over. Aaron Hicks was walked intentionally, and Gleyber Torres, who did not start the game, was sent up as a pinch-hitter, and he hit a sacrifice fly to center to tie it at 5-5. Then Isiah Kiner-Falefa struck out. In his 1st game as a Yankee, the new shortstop had gone 0-for-4.
King pitched a 1-2-3 top of the 11th. IKF was the ghost runner for the bottom of the 11th, and newcomer Josh Donaldson singled him home to win it.
Ballgame over! Opening Day over! Yankees win! Theeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Yankees win! Beat the Boston Red Scum 6-5 in 11 innings!
First walkoff win on Opening Day since 1957.
WP: King (obviously, 1-0). No save. LP: Kutter Crawford (just as obviously, 0-1).
The Yankees left 12 men on base, and had a lot of "at 'em balls," and Cole had a bad 1st inning, though he was okay the next 3. So those are concerns.
But, damn, it feels good to beat The Scum, which we hadn't done since September 26, 2021. And it felt good to win a game that counts, which we hadn't done since October 3, 2021.
The series continues tomorrow afternoon. Luis Severino starts against Nick Pivetta. Come on you Pinstripes!