Red Sox Take Over AL East Lead, With Help From Yankees

Hanley Ramirez hits three home runs against the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday. It was the first time he reached that feat in his career. Photo by Gabe Rodriguez/LOD

It’s July 21st and the Boston Red Sox lead the American League East by .5 game over the Baltimore Orioles. One year ago to the date, Boston was in last place in the East ten games under .500.

Heading into Wednesdays game against the NL West leaders the San Francisco Giants, the Red Sox had been on a hot streak winners of 10 of their last 13 games and 3-1 since the all-star break.

The Sox jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second on a home runs from Hanley Ramirez (9) and Travis Shaw (11).

Then in the bottom of the third, Ramirez hit his second jack of the game to extend the lead to 5-0. Boston added three more runs, on triple from Sandy Leon, and RBI doubles from Brock Holt and Mookie Betts.

The Giants battled back in the top of the fourth, after a three-run bomb from Marc Williamson and a two-run shot from Trevor Brown to pull within 8-5. Then in the fifth, the Giants got even closer after Ramiro Pena and Denard Span had run scoring singles.

But the Red Sox would not be denied the opportunity to take over first with the New York Yankees defeating the Baltimore Orioles in the Bronx, as Ramirez launched his third home run (11) of the game in the sixth and Leon added his second of the game in the seventh as the Red Sox pulled away to an 11-7 victory.

Game Notes

David Ortiz recorded a single in the game and is batting .326, which is his highest batting average since the 2007 season when he batted .332 on the year.

Hanley Ramirez recorded his first 3-Homer game of his career, also finishing with six RBI’s.

Giants Matt Cain lasted just 2.1 innings, allowing five runs on six hits.

Yankees Win Fourth Straight To Knock Orioles Out Of First

The New York Yankees are surging as they find themselves only six games out of the AL East lead and five games from the Wild Card spots.

On Thursday they defeated the Baltimore Orioles 5-0, to win their fourth straight game and knock the Orioles out of first helping propel the Red Sox into the lead.

The Bronx Bombers got timely home runs from Mark Teixeria (8) and Carlos Beltran (20) and Michael Pineda threw six solid innings, allowing juts five hits while striking out eight batters.

The Orioles Yovani Gallardo, who hasn’t won a game since June 29th, took the loss, while his ERA ballooned to 5.57.

David Conde

David is the Co-Founder and Executive Editor of Legends On Deck®, as well as a Co-Host on Legends On Deck Podcast. David was a Senior Editor for MetsMerizedOnline.com, MetsMinors.net and Contributor for Hardballchat.com that spanned from 2010 to 2014. David made his MLB Debut as a writer in June 2014, while covering the NY Mets at Citi Field, for MetsmerizedOnline.com. David also coaches baseball for ages 13-15, a Babe Ruth League team in his local community. David's passion is coaching the game he loves to the future Legends of Tomorrow as well as making available a website that people can have fun sharing and reading. David is also passionate about his career as a Mortgage Loan Officer which allows him to help many families reach their dreams of owning a home. Connect with David via his Social Media pages as he loves to chat all about baseball.