The Yankees had a prime opportunity to score the game-tying run in the fourth inning in Friday night’s series opener against the Red Sox, but instead, an out at the plate halted momentum, and the offense was silenced the rest of the way.
After Gio Urshela doubled to lead off the frame, Miguel Andujar followed with a base hit to right field, and third base coach Phil Nevin waved Urshela home. But a perfect throw by Renfroe nabbed Urshela by plenty, and the rally was smothered, and the Yanks still trailed by one in an eventual 5-3 defeat.
“I saw a ground ball to right field and saw Gio had a good jump,” Nevin said. “Renfroe in right was kind of moving to his right, and honestly, the way he was attacking the ball, I’ve seen the way he attacks balls, and I honestly didn’t even think he was gonna make a throw on that play.”
The Yanks had scored three in the second and it appeared to be heading toward a classic Yankees/Red Sox slugfest, but after Urshela was gunned down at the plate with nobody out, the Yankee offense stalled. Instead of having runners at the corners with nobody out, the Yanks’ next two batters were retired to end the inning, and the Bombers didn’t push across another run the rest of the way.
“There’s no excuse with nobody out,” Nevin said. “Can’t get a guy thrown out there…I felt like that was a turning point for me without a doubt. That one is on me. I whiffed that. No excuse.
Nevin spoke with reporters to make sure it was himself that was held accountable for the out at the plate, one that proved to be a crucial one in a close loss, the team’s fourth in a row to Boston to begin the season.
“There’s times when I’ll send guys and they get thrown out and it was the right call,” Nevin said. “There’s times where I hold guys and they maybe could have scored and it was the right call…but that spot, it was a bad spot…I’ll be thinking about this one for a little while.”
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