Sanchez's Explosive Night Propels Yankees over Red Sox

YANKEES 6 - RED SOX 2
ALDS Tied 1 - 1 

Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez was on the outs. A season where Sanchez was both betrayed by poor health and even poorer play, Yankee fans were ready to dump the struggling catcher at any given moment. Who could blame them. 

Sanchez missed most of June and July and all of August battling a nagging groin injury. When he did play, it wasn't good enough. Sanchez hit only .186 in 89 games this year with 18 homers and 53 RBI, and his issues behind the plate was becoming too glaring of an issues. 

On Saturday night, Sanchez put all of his troubles behind him, delivering a virtuoso performance that reminded the Bronx why he was once considered a gem in the middle of the Yankees plethora of young talent. Sanchez was 2-of-5 with two mammoth homers and four RBI. He was the difference maker in a critical game to tie a best-of-five series with the arch rival Red Sox as the series turns to the Bronx on Monday night. 

The Yankee bomb squad started early and often. First it was Aaron Judge who got the party started with a homer to deep center in the top of the first off David Price. An inning later, Sanchez just cleared the Green Monster for his first solo shot of the series to extend the Yankee lead to 2-0. 

For Price, it was another nightmare for him against the Yankees. He lasted only 1.2 innings of work, allowing three runs on three hits, walked two and struck out none. For whatever reason the Yankees love hitting Price. As a team, the current Yankees' lineup has 15 homers, 48 RBI and a .318 batting average against him. They own his ass. 

On the flip side, Mashairo Tanaka was solid. He held the Red Sox off the scoreboard for four of his five innings of work. The only mistake he made, was serving up a homer to Xander Bogaerts in the fourth. Other than that, Tanaka was in complete control. 

The Yankee pen again was brilliant. The combination of Dellin Betances, Zach Britton and Aroldis Chapman held Boston to only a run on two hits over four innings of work. 

More importantly the mental state of this series is edge Yankees. New York knows Boston's bullpen has plenty of problems, and they have the horses to get into the Red Sox bullpen and pound it. With the series switching to the Bronx, things could get ugly for the Red Sox.