Yankees cruise to 9-2 win in Game 2, send Red Sox home for second straight season

Game 2 in the Bronx unfolded a lot like Game 1 did on Tuesday. The first few innings were a masterful pitching duel between Max Fried for the Yankees and Sonny Gray for the Red Sox. Through the first three and a half innings, there were only four total hits, seven strikeouts, and neither team had pushed a run across.

Then, just as they did in Game 1 of the AL Wild Card series, the Yankees drew first blood in Game 2 when Luis Garcia Jr., who the Yankees acquired from the Nationals at the trade deadline, took a sweeper from Sonny Gray and deposited it into the right field bleachers to give New York a 1-0 lead.

Gray would recover to retire the next three batters, and then two of the first three batters in the fifth inning before Ben Rice singled to right field, advancing Austin Wells to third. From there, it was deja vu in the Bronx.