The Boston Red Sox punched their ticket to the ALCS with a win over the New York Yankees on Tuesday night, and the final score in Game 4 was not indicative of how lopsided the series was. After he and his teammates saw their season come to an end, veteran outfielder Brett Gardner alluded to that.
Boston took a 4-1 lead into the 9th inning on Tuesday after chasing CC Sabathia from the game early. Some control issues from closer Craig Kimbrel made things much tighter than they should have been, and Gardner said after that the Yankees were simply outplayed.
Gardner: "They outhit us & they outpitched us & they outplayed us. U have to tip your caps to them. They didnt win 108 games during the season by just being a decent team. They have a really good team over there. I felt like we could beat them & we didn't play our best baseball."
— Erik Boland (@eboland11) October 10, 2018
In hindsight, it was hard to see New York recovering from the 16-1 beating the Red Sox handed them in Game 3. The fans at Yankee Stadium were the loudest we have heard all year, and Boston’s bats managed to take them out of it early in Game 3 and Game 4. That’s something the team has done all year, with manager Alex Cora pulling all the right strings along the way.
A series that was supposed to be a rivalry renewal was ultimately a one-sided affair. CC Sabathia can blame the home plate umpire all he wants, but Gardner is right that the Yankees simply lost to the better team.
