LONDON (AP) The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox treated fans to one of the most unusual first innings in their century-plus rivalry when they played Saturday night in the first Major League Baseball game in Europe.
In the 2,200th regular-season meeting between the teams, New York scored six runs in the top of the first and Boston came back with six in the bottom half in an inning that lasted 58 minutes, 20 batters and 94 pitches.
Boston’s Rick Porcello got just one out in the shortest of his 324 career starts. New York’s Masahiro Tanaka got two outs and failed to finish the first inning for the first time in 149 major league starts. It was the first time in the rivalry that both teams scored six or more runs in the first and the first big league game involving any teams in which that occurred since visiting Toronto led Oakland 7-6 on June 23, 1989.
The last time neither pitcher recorded three outs was Sept. 21, 1989, when San Diego’s Dennis Rasmussen and Cincinnati’s Jack Armstrong both allowed five runs and got no outs.
Luke Voit and Edwin Encarnacion hit RBI doubles around Didi Gregorius’ two-run double, and Aaron Hicks drove a changeup from Rick Porcello 386 feet over the Boston bullpen in right field for a two-run homer on Porcello’s 33rd and final pitch.
Rafael Devers and Brock Holt had RBI singles in the bottom half around Christian Vazquez’s sacrifice fly, and Michael Chavis chased Tanaka with a three-run homer.
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